Harley Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by Sincerely- AnonymousP
Summary: As Harley Potter begins her first year at Hogwarts, she finds that there is more than waving a wand to being a witch. Something darks is coming out of the woodworks and it will be up to Harley and her friends to stop it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own absolutley nadda. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

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**Harley Potter**

**and the**

**Sorcerer's Stone**

Prologue

The-Girl-Who-Lived

It was a quiet night. Not much was going on and everything was as normal as could normally be at Little Whinging, though perhaps that's what was strange. These were the thoughts flowing through Albus Dumbledore's mind as he swept down the road.

He stopped at one particular house across the street at Private Drive and could dimly make out a little brass number 4 hanging from the front of the door. "Poor, poor girl", the man quietly stated and his face took on a mournful quality as he stroked his long, white beard. At this his thoughts turned to a much darker note. As he looked up to face the night sky, his eye was caught by a stiff tabby cat sitting on top of a fence. His eyes began their customary twinkle. "Hello Professor McGonagall." In a flash the tabby cat leapt off the fence and morphed into a stern looking elderly woman. She wore a shimmering green cloak, and her black hair was pulled into a strict bun.

"Albus," she began, "Is it true?" He sighed and nodded his head sadly. The woman's face took on a mournful quality. "Oh dear, poor James and Lily…" They both stood there for a moment, wrapped up in their own thoughts. McGonagall shook herself out of the stupor first. "What of their child? Surely that cannot also be true?"

"I'm afraid so, my friend. Though I cannot fathom how she survived."

"And you're bringing that poor child here! To these… these muggles! Albus you can't! I have seen them, and they are the worst sort there is. Lily's child will find no love here and of that I can assure you", the stern woman stated with indignation.

"My dear Professor what would you have me do otherwise. She is safest here," the man replied tiredly. Although as he spoke those words, his eyes showed the stress his decision caused. "Albus, any wizard family would be thrilled at the prospect of taking the child in she would-"

Exactly my point Minerva" The man cut in quickly. "She cannot be raised with the fame of such a horrible event hanging over her. One she may not even remember." He sighed once again. "No, it's best she be raised here, with the protection of her only family." His tone of voice left no discussion and the woman relinquished, though developed a hard face showing she would rather do otherwise.

"When is she coming", she finally questioned after a moment. "Hagrid is bringing her. In fact he should be here by now," he elderly man stated. "What!" McGonagall looked stunned. "You think it is wise to trust Hagrid with such a task?" Albus looked calmly at the now almost distraught professor. "Minerva I would trust him with my life."

Just then the roar of an engine was heard thundering through the sky. A dark blur sped toward them and as it landed both adults were able to see a rather large man lift himself out of the seat of a motorcycle. He walked over with a slightly choked up and rather gruff voice began," 'Ello P'ffesors. Brought the lil' tyke with me." The man, who could now be identified as Hagrid, handed over a small pink bundle to Albus. "She fell 'sleep on the ride here, bless 'er heart."

The bundle shifted and Albus was able to see a small tuft of black hair underneath the blankets. He also caught a glimpse of a new lightning bolt cut above one of the child's eyes.

The group walked towards the little house marked 4. As Albus bent down to set the bundle on the doorstep, the giant gave a chocked sob. "Hagrid please," the woman hissed, although one could tell she had done it with a certain softness in her tone. "Yes Hagrid," Albus began, "This is not the end."

Both the stern woman and the giant turned to leave while the remaining member of the party stayed to look down at the rather small package he had left on the doorstep of Number Four, Private Drive. "Goodnight and good luck, Harley Potter." And with that the man swept off and was gone from the considerably normal looking neighborhood in an instant.

Unknown to the rest of the celebrating wizarding world, Harley Potter was abruptly woken up by a screeching woman and spent the next ten years with her and an ugly nuisance named Dudley and the rest of the Dursley family.

But for now she lay sleeping peacefully while a world still unknown to her raised their glasses and gave toast, "To the Girl-Who-Lived!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Agian, my petition to own the Harry Potter series has been denied.

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Chapter One

The Zoo

"Up…Get up you girl", Petunia banged on the door. Blearily Harley Potter blinked startlingly emerald green eyes open to a small, but clean room. Although to her, the room was much better than the small cupboard she had previously dwelt in for the first ten years of her life. "Are you up yet!"

_Ugh_, she thought disgruntled, _the screaming banshee returns_. Harley was a short, petite girl, with pixie cut black hair that stuck up in all directions no matter what was done to tame it. Though that was not her favorite quality, nor were her emerald green eyes. It was the scar that donned her forehead that was her favorite. It was curiously shaped like a lightning bolt above her right eye.

Tiredly, Harley tried to remember what her dream had been about. It was good that was for sure, something about a flying motorcycle. She had a funny feeling that she had had it before. "Yes Aunt Petunia."

"Well hurry up then, I need you to make breakfast. It's Dudley's special day ", the shrill sounding woman finished in an almost sing-song voice, much to the disgust of the resident inside the room. Oh yes, how she could forget _Dudley's special day_. Her Aunt had been nagging about it all week.

Aunt Petunia had an annoying personality to go along with her voice; it was much like nails on a chalkboard. It made you cringe every time. With that thought in mind Harley sat up and got prepared, ready to face whatever the great whale of an oaf (literately) cousin of hers would decide to throw at her today.

Now, Harley was not a trouble-maker, though if you asked her aunt and uncle they would most assuredly tell you otherwise. She was simply misunderstood, mostly due to her relatives' insistence. In fact she was immensely misunderstood, which was part of the problem. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley knew what she was and how she was… _different_ and, because they valued and prided themselves in their normalcy, Harley was seen as their greatest embarrassment for her _abnormality_. Growing up she was always kept separate from her 'normal' cousin. While he was showered with almost a disgusting amount of love and affection, she was given chores and when she protested a swat and a statement of, "_You were lucky we took you in at all ungrateful brat_ ," was enough to let her know not to argue, just go with it.

Recently Harley had been making more effort than normal due to her being moved from the cupboard under the stairs to the smallest bedroom because it would no longer fit her. Though her cousin Dudley threw a right good tantrum over his cousin taking over his 'toy' room as it had previously been dubbed.

The fact that the reason for the move was the cupboard she had previously occupied had mysteriously shrunk in size was beside the point, in Harley's opinion. When her Uncle had first discovered the cupboard, he went purple in the face and sputtered something to Harley about Dudley's toy room. Harley never paid it much attention. Besides, strange stuff happened to her all the time.

Speeding downstairs, Harley was greeted by the sight of her large uncle sitting at the table reading the daily newspaper and her horse like aunt facing her, holding a spatula out expectantly.

Uncle Vernon was by no means a small man; in fact, he was by no means a plump man either. He was simple huge, with beefy hands, a pink face, and no neck. Petunia was the exact opposite, being tall and horsey with an abnormally long neck that was perfect for her daily spying on the neighbors for her fill of afternoon gossip.

"Hurry up, and don't you dare burn the bacon," Petunia almost spat.

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Quickly Harley sped to the stove to begin her daily ritual of chores. Several minutes later, while serving the perfectly cooked bacon to Uncle Vernon, thunderous footsteps were heard stampeding toward the kitchen and a moment later, "HOW MANY PRESENTS," was shouted for all people to have their eardrums shatter from the sheer volume of the voice alone. Dudley had arrived.

Dudley was much like his father; large, beefy, and bigger by more than several pounds than anyone within five years of him with a small wisp of blond hair on top of his head and watery blue eyes. He was also rather dim to be honest. Aunt Petunia often referred to him as her little angel. Harley often referred to him as her personal pig-in-a-wig.

"Thirty-six, my boy, counted them myself," Vernon stated, with an almost proud air about him. Dudley stood there for a moment thinking. The way he was concentrating, it looked hard.

"THIRTY-SIX, BUT LAST YEAR I HAD THIRTY SEVEN!" _Brat_

"Now pumpkin," Petunia said intervening quickly, "we're going to the zoo and I'll get two more presents, how's that sound?" Again Dudley began doing the apparently difficult math pausing for another minute.

"Ok then, as long as _she _doesn't come and muck it up." He whipped around to face Harley giving her a look that scrunched up his face in a way that she almost burst out laughing from right then and there. He now reminded her of a very wrinkly pig-in-a-wig. "Of course not my Duddykins! She will be sent to Mrs. Figg," replied Aunt Petunia matter-of-factly.

That statement was enough to put a stopper on Harley's silent hysteria. Mrs. Figg. Ugh. Not that she wasn't a decent person, by all means she was better than the Dursleys any day, it was just she had an obsession with…cats. Cats are fine if you have one or two, but Mrs. Figg had at least 15, and that did not bode well for the smell of her house or the mental stability of the occupant now that she thought about it.

"She can't take the girl Pet", Uncle Vernon gruffed, "She broke her leg tripping over one of those bloody cats!" Petunia pinched her face and thought for a bit, "What about Marge?" Again Harley's silent hysteria over the horror that was Mrs. Figg was immediately halted at the thought of Marge.

That woman actually DID hate her, and made it fairly well known by torturing Harley with her dogs. Rabid, hateful, ugly dogs. Luckily, for once, Uncle Vernon came to the rescue. "Of course not, she bloody hates the girl!"

Sighing to herself, Harley zoned out. This happened often enough. Her relatives would often carry on entire conversations about her, usually with her standing in the vicinity, without acknowledging her. She got used to it. "She'll have to come with us I suppose". Harley started and gawked at the sudden decision and, wondering if she was mistaken, turned to Dudley. His look of horror was forever burned into Harley's blessed memory.

So there the group was thirty minutes later, headed to the zoo together in her uncle's company car, Harley squished between Dudley and his mousey friend Piers. She couldn't contain her excitement (she was ten after all); she was finally going to the zoo! Every year Dudley had a special birthday trip, all of which Harley had promptly been sent to Mrs. Figg's for. But not this time no-sir-ee, she was going to the zoo! At the same time her thoughts drifted back to her rather sudden encounter with her Uncle Vernon before they had left.

Harley opened the car door when suddenly a pink, beefy hand slammed it shut in front of her. She whipped around and came face to face with her Uncle Vernon, who was turning a nice shade of burgundy at the moment. "Now you listen here girl, if there is any funny business, any at all, you will be locked in that cupboard for a week!" Swallowing a lump in her throat Harley slowly nodded and hopped into the car with the others.

Nothing is going to happen today, she told herself. I will be perfectly normal and nothing will happen.

In Harley's opinion, it was great day so far. The day was warm, and the sun was shining brightly one her as soon as she stepped out of the car. It was as if the universe _wanted _her to have a good day. She even got an ice cream. Sure it was only because the lady at the ice cream cart had noticed her before they had time to leave and she had got the cheapest one there, but an ice cream was still an ice cream. And she rarely got anything for that matter.

As of now the group had moved into the reptile house where it was nice and cool. Dudley and Piers were leaning up and had their noses pressed up against some reptile's glass enclosure. Moving closer Harley saw it was a giant python lying on a stone.

"Move," Dudley shouted at the reptile. Yet, ignoring Dudley's command, the snake stayed where it was, basking in the warmth of the enclosure. Dudley banged on the glass harder hoping to rattle it, or make the snake do something. "MOVE!"

"It's asleep if you didn't notice", Harley commented dryly. "So boring", Dudley mumbled as he walked away with Piers in tow. Walking closer to the cage Harley could sympathize with the creature.

"Sorry about that," she said. "They don't understand what it's like lying there day after day, watching people press their ugly faces at you." At that moment Harley could have sworn that the snake was chuckling at her! Slowly it lifted it spade shaped head and winked at her. _Can they even do that?_

"Can you hear me?" she asked incredulous. The snake bobbed its head up and down in what could only be a confirmation. "Oh wow! I've talked to garden snakes once before but I thought that I was just hallucinating 'cause of the heat!" Harley exclaimed.

"Dad, Dad!" Dudley exclaimed. Harley was shoved aside as Dudley once again pressed his pig face in on the glass "Come look at what this snake is doing!" Harley glared as hard as she could at the beefy boy. He didn't have to shove her so hard that rammed face first into the pavement. Then suddenly before she knew what had happened the glass disappeared, sending Dudley squealing over the edge.

Dudley fell into the enclosure head first, and as he came spluttering up out of the water he stopped dead in his tracks. The giant python previously behind the glass was now slithering out of it! "Thankssss amiga," it hissed as it passed by.

"Anytime", Harley replied, still in a daze. The snake slithered out of the reptile house, snapping at the feet of random observers.

Suddenly there was screaming behind Harley and everyone in the current vicinity turned to see Mrs. Dursley banging on the glass of the snake enclosure that had, as if by magic, reappeared. Better yet was the reason for her screaming. Dudley was trapped inside the enclosure wailing to be let out! Giggling Harley looked around and suddenly caught the eyes of her Uncle. He was not happy, not happy at all. Harley should have known her universally willed good day couldn't last. The giggling on her part probably hadn't helped her case any either.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Now, i know that for right my story is a lot like the book, but it will change eventually. I am JUST STARTING it. Give me some breathing room...Oh and while I write this I do not read the book because if i do i will end up quoting too much from the book.

I would also like to give a huge shout out to my amazing beta reader, Anonymous Writer!

Disclaimer: The more I do this, the more my depression over the fact I own ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING worsens...

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Chapter Two

Letters, Giants, and Alleys oh my!

To say Harley had not had a good time would be a severe understatement. As you can imagine being locked up in a cupboard for an extended period of time is not exactly the ideal form of fun. It had lasted so long that by the time she was released from her confinement, summer was already upon them. But it was over and Harley welcomed the freedom.

Walking into the kitchen one morning she had to dodge out of the reach of Dudley's new smelting stick which, according to Uncle Vernon, was supposed to help boys build character through whacking each other when the teacher wasn't looking.

How this was supposed to work was completely lost on Harley as she dryly noted that_ it had obviously not worked for uncle _Vernon's_ charming demeanor. _

Dudley would be attending Vernon's old private school Smeltings while Harley would be attending the public school of Stonewall. This was in fact perfectly fine with her. Attending school with Dudley had been less than an enjoyable experience for Harley and she more than welcomed the change. It would be refreshing if nothing else.

Dudley's new stick was part of his uniform while Harley's uniform consisted of mostly, grey. Walking past the bathroom one morning, Harley smelt something foul. To her displeasure, she found aunt Petunia dunking something- that looked suspiciously like an article of clothing- into grey murky water.

"Aunt Petunia' what are you doing?" Harley asked.

"Dying some of my old things grey for your uniform at Stonewall," Petunia replied stiffly. "Now don't ask questions." That was another rule in the Dursley household, no questions. When Harley had asked about her parents when she was smaller her only answer from Petunia was, "They died in a car accident, now don't ask again and go do the dishes!" After that, she had never mentioned it again.

Currently the Dursley's were sitting around the kitchen table eating breakfast while Harley was passing around the food. "Go get the mail Dudley," Uncle Vernon stated as the mail slot was heard signaling their daily delivery.

"Make Harley get it!" Dudley protested. Harley looked at Dudley shrewdly.

"Make Dudley get it", she simply said and sat down. Or she would have had not Uncle Vernon made the brilliant comment, "Whack her with your smelting stick Dudley."

Jumping yet again out of range from Dudley's attack, Harley swiftly left to gather the mail. Bending down she snatched up the mail and began to rifle through it. It contained what she had suspected. _Letter from Marge, Marge, bills, Marge, bills, Harley Potter, bil- wait what!_ Harley's eyes widened and swept back over the letter addressed to her drinking it in. It was heavy and seemed to be some kind of parchment paper. And written clearly on the front in green ink were the words

To Miss H. Potter

Smallest Bedroom

Number Four, Private Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

"Girl! What are doing in there! Checking for letter bombs?" Vernon's gruff voice carried through the hallway along with his chuckle over his own joke. Harley rolled her eyes, debating whether or not to actually reply _Yeah Uncle Vernon, and I found one! What should I do with it?_

"Coming Uncle Vernon," Harley replied walking back into the kitchen handing Vernon everything but her own letter. Dudley, seeing the distracted look on his cousin and the paper clutch firmly in her hand took the opportunity to snatch it like any good Smelting student would do. "Dad, Dad! Harley's got a letter!"

"Give it back its mine," Harley said heatedly.

"Yours", Vernon asked in an incredulous tone. "Who would be writing to _you?_"

Both Vernon and Petunia bent over the letter to examine it. Vernon's face was slowly drained of any color it had possessed the longer he looked at the letter, as well as Petunia's. "Pet-Petunia", he stuttered almost completely white. "Vernon-"

"What's in the letter!" Dudley demanded.

Vernon whipped his head up. It looked as if he had completely forgotten that Dudley and Harley were there at all. "OUT," he bellowed. "But-"

"OUT NOW!" With that both of the kids were shoved out of the room. And not for the first time in the week to come, Harley wondered what in the world could have possibly been in her letter.

-HP-

_So much for avoiding those letters_, Harley thought bitterly. She was currently lying on the ground in a small, old house, held up on stilts in the middle of a lake, during a storm. _Yeah…_this was not exactly how she had wanted to spend her eleventh birthday.

Harley turned to her obese cousin strewn across the couch, glancing for a moment at the watch on his wrist. 11:58. Almost her birthday, not that anyone would notice of course. It had passed by for years without recognition, but for some reason Harley couldn't help but hope that this time it was going to be different. She glanced at the wristwatch again and as she saw the clock tick closer to midnight, she began her customary countdown.

"BOOM". Harley started, and apparently so did her cousin as he rolled of the couch rather ungracefully with a, "Where's da cannon". Harley would have rolled her eyes had there not been another "BOOM!" Ten.

Nine.

"BOOM!" Eight.

"BOOM!" Seven. Six.

"BOOM!" Five. "BOOM!"

Harley had by this time realized where the pounding was coming from and scrambled behind a corner while Dudley remained where he sat on the couch looking at the door with a rather stupid expression fixed on his face.

"BOOM!" Four. Three.

"BOOM!" Two. "BOOM!"

Uncle Vernon came thumping down the stairs with a shotgun gripped firmly in his beefy hands, Aunt Petunia following right behind."Who the BLOODY goes there!"

One.

"BAM!" With that last pound the door was thrown from its hinges and landed on the floor with a dull thud. Looking from the door back to the entrance, Harley saw something she had never expected. A giant was entering the house.

"Sorry 'bout tha'," the giant stated in a gruff voice. He lifted the door and placed it in its proper place in the doorway. As he stepped into the light, Harley was able to see much more of the huge man.

He was at least five times the size of Vernon, with a thick, gnarly black beard covering most of his face. She also dimly noted in the back of her mind, that he was carrying nothing but a large pink umbrella. "Now, where is tha' 'Arley Potter," the giant questioned. _Me! Who would come all the way out to a rotted old house in the middle of a lake during a storm, just for me?_

"L-l-leave at once, you are b-breaking and entering." Vernon's attempt at sounding firm and commanding came out like something more similar to quiet stutter.

The giant man walked to her uncle, and with a quick show of giant strength, bent the rifle like a pretzel. "Dry up Dursley you great prune." The giant turned and glanced around the small living area once more.

"Now where's tha' 'Arley."

"H-h-here sir." Slowly she left her spot from behind the corner and walked toward the giant. Looking closer, she was able to see that his eyes were more brown than beetle black, and he had smiling crinkles at the edge of his eyes. Harley felt a bit more at ease with the man.

"Ah look atcha. Just like yer mum, but you got stuck with yer dad's hair I see. Oh, that reminds me, I got something for ya. Afraid I might have sat on it at one point, but it'll taste fine I reckon." Before she even had time to say one of the dozens of questions that popped in her min, the man pulled out a somewhat squashed box. Opening it, Harley saw a cake with the words 'Hapee Birthday Harly' written on the top of it.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you." She felt a little foolish that he had gone and made a cake for her, and she didn't even know his name, though she felt she should. "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. 'Course you know all about Hogwarts."

"I'm sorry, Hog-what?"

"Blimey Harley, didn't you wonder where your parents learned it all?" Hagrid asked bewildered.

"Learned what?"Harley was bewildered. Should she know what he was talking about?

"You really don't know, do ya?" Suddenly he grew furious, and Harley backed up a few steps before he rounded on the Dursleys, not seeing Dudley go for the cake that Harley had set down earlier.

"You mean to tell me that you never told her? About ANYTHING!"

Now she was annoyed. Why wouldn't he just tell her already? First the letter now this? "Know about what?"

Hagrid turned back to Harley. "You're a witch Harley. And a thumpin' good one I'll reckon once yer trained up a bit."

Harley stared at the man slack jawed. A witch, her? "I'm afraid you must be mistaken sir, I can't be witch. I'm just Harley, just me."

The giant chuckled. "Well_ just _Harley. Didn't you ever make anything happen anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?"

Everything strange that had ever happened came flooding back into her mind. Countless examples that proved Hagrid's statement true flashed to the forefront.

One such time was in primary school when her teacher's hair had instantaneously turned blue after she gotten mad at Harley for spilling blue paint that Dudley had knocked over. She wasn't allowed out of the cupboard for a week and only received meager amounts of food.

Another time she had been found on the roof of the school cafeteria after Dudley and his gang had been playing their favorite game of 'Harley' hunting. She had been running from the group and was suddenly caught in the wind mid jump, and next thing she knew, she was on the school roof waiting to be rescued by the fire department. Harley had been stuck in the cupboard for a month for that particular stunt.

Harley looked back up to Hagrid, her eyes brightening in understanding. He chuckled, "_Just_ Harley indeed."

Yawning, Harley blinked her eyes open to bright sunshine flowing through the window of the little house on the lake. Suddenly everything came back to her _Oh, _she thought dismally, _it was all just a dream, _though it was a nice dream if she did say so herself.A snort was heard from the couch. She whipped her head around to face the giant, _Hagrid_, she remembered, who was lying on the small tattered couch, and everything came flooding back. Harley broke out into a grin.

A witch! Could she honestly be one? Sure stuff had always happened to her, but her Aunt and Uncle had always come up with excuses for such events and even went as far as to ban the 'M' word from being said in the house, though Harley had never understood why they had before now.

The Dursleys. Her grin grew even broader at the thought of Dudley. The pig tail seemed to only reaffirm her theory of Dudley being a pig-in-a-wig. And to add another confirmation of the events of the previous night, she found her letter to _Hogwarts_ clutched firmly in her hand.

"Mornin' 'Arley," Hagrid was barley intelligible through his wide yawn. "We best be headed off." Harley eagerly nodded and began to prepare as best she could the trip to buy her supplies, as Hagrid had mentioned previously the night before. She halted in her quest for socks as a thought popped into her mind.

"Hagrid, where does one buy wizard school supplies?" It wasn't as if they could get dragon hide gloves or pewter cauldrons at the supermarket after all.

Hagrid began to chuckle, "Ah, forgo' you don' know much 'bout our world."

Harley scowled fiercely, "Don't remind me".

"Not to worry", the giant reassured, "we can ge' all your stuff at Diagon Alley"

For the second time Harley could do nothing but blink. "Dia-what?"

-HP-

"Well 'ere we are!" Hagrid flung his hands out in front of him, showcasing a small pub on the crowded muggle London street.

"Uh, where exactly are we?" Harley questioned in a small voice. She was not sure what she was supposed to be looking at. The building had a small sign hanging in front of it that read 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

"Well come on then," Hagrid motioned for Harley to follow him.

"'Ello Tom!", Hagrid bellowed across the small pub and Harley couldn't help but grimace. For such a famous place, it was kind of…homely, to put it in the nicest way possible. On the top of that, the pub was crowded with oddest people Harley had ever seen. She even thought she saw an eyeball popping out of one of the nearest soups. _Ugh, I am so never eating here._

She turned her attention back to Hagrid's discussion with the apparent bartender just in time to hear him say, "No can do Tom. I'm just 'ere help young 'Arley 'ere to get 'er school supplies." At these words the entire pub went silent. Which to Harley was quite a feat considering the amount of people squashed together in the area.

"My Gosh, could it be…," Tom started in a whisper. "It's Harley Potter!" The aforementioned blinked. That was apparently some sort of signal for everyone to come alive and rush straight to her. Joy.

"Welcome back, Miss Potter, welcome back."

"So good to see you again Miss Potter!"

Harley thought she was going to drown from the staggering amount of people that seemed to simply want to shake her hands. "Always wanted to shake your hand Miss Potter, I'm all a flutter to meet you!" Harley didn't have time to react with all the people crowding her at once. It was overwhelming and gave her the feeling of drowning in names and faces. She could have sworn that the same person kept coming back, an old woman named Doris or something of the sort.

Eventually, _and thankfully _Harley added in her head, she was herded by Hagrid to the back of the pub where she almost ran head first into the most peculiar young man she had ever met. "Er sorry sir". "H-h-hello Miss P-P-Potter. C-can't tell you how p-p-pleased I am to m-meet you" the guy said with an obvious stutter. Harley took a closer look at the man. He was shaking badly and was wearing the oddest head dress, a purple turban.

"Well 'ello P'fessor Quirrell!" Hagrid turned to Harley. "'Arley, this is P'fessor Quirrell. He'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher".

She turned and gave the teacher a shrewd look. For some reason that she could not identify, she did not like this teacher, though Hagrid was nothing but friendly with him. He gave her a funny feeling and she could swear that she saw his eyes narrow and fill with loathing before quickly shifting back to their normal timid look. It had happened so fast that she had dismissed it as a trick of the light.

"So is Defense Against the Dark Arts like learning to fight?" she questioned.

"Y-yes. N-n-not that y-you need it e-e-eh P-P-Potter?" Quirrell chuckled nervously, and looked as though he would much rather not be reminded he taught the subject. Harley snorted, inconspicuously of course. Now she was not entirely sure what the subject was, but she highly doubted this man would be able to teach something to do with 'Dark Arts'. He seemed to be afraid of his own shadow for goodness sakes!

"Well, best be on our way 'Arley. Lots ter buy"

"O-o-oh yes, I-I-I've got to p-pick up a n-new book on v-v-vampires myself" The poor guy looked terrified at the mere thought.

"Sure thing Hagrid." Haley trotted away after the giant and away from the queer Professor gladly.

When they exited the back door, Harley was not sure what to expect from a place called Diagon Alley, but a solid, boring, grey brick wall was definitely not one of the expected outcomes. "Uh, Hagrid? Are you sure we're in the right place?" Hagrid could honestly not believe that there was a whole magical alley in this dinky place. The giant though was apparently to busy randomly tapping on the grey wall to have heard Harley's question.

"Three up… two across… Right then 'Arley. Welcome", said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley." Harley looked again towards Hagrid expecting to see the same brick wall, but in its place was a brilliant archway leading to the most outlandish and colorful alley she had ever seen. Hagrid smiled at Harley's pure amazement.

As they stepped through the Archway, Harley turned back and saw it shrink instantly back into a boring, grey, brick wall. Obviously the whole magic part of the alley had, evidently, completely slipped her mind.

Harley looked around and futilely tried to memorize everything that she saw, wishing she had about eight more eyes. She glanced at a shop to her right that had kids around her age crowded around a display.

"Look at it! It's the Nimbus 2000! It's supposed to be the fastest broom yet!"

"…Dragon liver sixteen sickles? It's ridiculous…" a witch dressed in outlandish cloths off to her left grumbled.

There was just so much to look at and Harley couldn't keep up. The closest shop to her was stacked with cauldrons and had a sign above it that read Apothecary. "Yer gonna be needing stuff fer potions from there 'Arley," said Hagrid. "Still got yer list."

"Um yeah. It's right here." Harley pulled out her letter from her overly large pants pockets and looked over it again.

Hogwarts School _of_ Witchcraft _and_ Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

"'Arley there should be a list of supplies along with tha' letter there" And sure enough a list of _stuff_ was enclosed.

First year students will require

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black)

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black with silver fastenings)

That was not what Harley was thrilled most about though. No it was the list of school books that her jumping for joy inside her head. She never got to read much while living with the Dursley's. Not that any of them actually _read_ the books, heaven forbid. No they just banned them from Harley simply because she enjoyed them. She continued down the list finishing with the last line of

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Hagrid," Harley began, "how am I supposed to afford all this. I've got no money." It wasn't as if the Dursleys were going to pay for it. And she didn't want to borrow money from anyone.

"Ah 'Arley you didn't think yer mum an' dad would leave ya with nothin', did ya?" Harley gawked. She actually had money! Could this day possibly get any better!

-HP-

_Apparently it can. _Harley stood transfixed at the mounds of money contained within her vault. She had not expected to find her own tiny fortune, maybe a little bit of money but not the amount she was now staring at. "The lil' bronze one are knuts, the silver one sickles, and the gold ones Galleons," Hagrid supplied helpfully. Harley began chucking some money into a leather bag that Hagrid had given her. "Seventeen Sickles to a galleon, and twenty-nine knuts to a sickle. Got tha'?"

Harley nodded. "Think so."

"Then", Hagrid began, "let's go get yer stuff."

-HP-

_Ugh, I hate, no _loathe_ shopping _Harley thought as she stepped into the clothing store. She thought that maybe since it was magical shopping, that things might be more interesting. Nope. The only highlight of the monotonous trip had been when they entered the _Flourish and Blotts _book store. She had bought her required text and looked a bit longer for some other books for personal reading. At one point Hagrid had to drag the girl away from a book on curses she had been thinking about using on Dudley. Eventually they had left with her grabbing a few books on Transfigurations.

"Hello dear." Harley turned and faced a plump, nice looking woman. "Are you Hogwarts as well?"

"Um, yeah," Harley replied. "Oh good, there's another one right over there." As Harley was herded over to the nearest stool she caught sight of who could only be the other student.

"Hi", the boy said. "Are you Hogwarts too?" The boy was pale, with a pointed face and platinum blonde hair that was almost white. He gave off an air of aristocracy and upper class.

"Yeah, it's my first year", Harley said smiling a bit.

The boy nodded. "Mine too. Do you know what house you'll be in?"

_House? _Harley thought frantically her face falling. _There are houses? _Not wanting to be seen as unaware she replied, "Um, no. Do you?"

The boy perked up instantly. "Yeah, I'm going to be in Slytherin. My family has been in that house for generations!" Then he paused and his face took on a suspicious look."Wait, you're not one of _them_ are you?"

"Them?"

The boy nodded sagely. "Yeah, them, the muggleborns."

Harley frowned. She wasn't sure she like this kid, He reminded her a bit too much of a skinnier Dudley. "My parents were both magical if that's what you mean."

He relaxed, and apparently that was the right answer. "That's good. It would be a shame if someone as pretty as you was muggleborn." He smirked as if his comment normally melted girls into a puddle of goo. "I don't think they should even be allowed into the school."

Harley was about to reply when there was a knock on the window of the shop. She looked over and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Hagrid was standing outside, but that was not what she was staring at. No, it was the large snowy owl that he was carrying that her attention was fixed on.

"Happy birthday!"

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There is a reason why there is a perfectly funtioning Review button at the bottom. Feel free to use it!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Are they really gonna make me repeat the same thing over, and over, and over...and over. It rather depressing really.

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Chapter Three

The Hogwarts Express

As soon as she had returned from her trip, Harley ran to her room to investigate her new, _and magical, _possessions. That…and to hide them from being demolished, burned, or otherwise destroyed in multiple horrible fashions by the Dursleys.

As the weeks continued, she had noticed a notable difference in the Dursley's treatment of her. It wasn't like it got better no, they just went the extra mile to avoid her. Harley still woke up every morning to do breakfast, chores, lunch and dinner. Not that she minded of course. In fact, their avoidance of her just gave her more time to read her books.

Her owl, newly named Hedwig, became a constant companion for her in isolation, so she was never very lonely and could stay in her room for almost the entire day just reading. Her favorite subject to read about was Transfiguration, though just reading about it was not enough for her. She wanted to actually try it!

At this her thoughts turned back to her experience buying her wand, and she frowned. It did not go exactly how she had expected it too. Not at all.

_Flashback_

Harley was bouncing with excitement. It was finally time to get the thing that defined being a witch, or wizard for that matter. Her wand! "Ah, here we are 'Arley." Said person looked at the store that Hagrid had stopped at. It was rather old and musty looking with a sign above it that read:

Ollivanders

Makers of fine wands since 382 b.c

As they stepped inside, a bell went off somewhere, tinkling to alert anyone of their arrival. While duo waited, Harley glanced around the small, but packed, store and at the thousands of narrow boxes stacked to the ceiling.

"Ah yes," said a soft voice. Harley jumped and turned to face who could only be the owner of the shop. He was an old man with wide, pale eyes, shinning like moons in the shop and white wispy hair. "I wondered when I would be seeing you Miss Potter", the man whispered. "It seemed only yesterday your parents were buying their first wands."

Hagrid coughed. "Ah", the man grinned, which in Harley's opinion, was something he shouldn't do often as it was a bit unnerving. "Rubeus Hagrid. Oak sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

The giant looked a bit nervous and gripped his umbrella a little more tightly. "Uh, yes sir it was." Ollivander turned away and began shuffling threw boxes.

"Well, Miss Potter let's see here try this wand".

For the next thirty minutes the group spent time watching Harley wave wand after wand; slowly destroying the wand shop in various ways from burning, to busting, and then simply exploding. Finally, Ollivander handed Harley one wand while giving her a piercing look. "Holly and Phoenix feather", he supplied. "Nice and supple".

As soon as she touched the wand, Harley felt warmth spread throughout her body, running up her arm and down to her toes. She gasped as silver gold sparks shot out the end of what she knew was her wand.

"Curious…very curious…"

Harley turned to look at Ollivander who was mumbling under his breath. "What's curious sir?" Harley did not like the way that the sentenced sounded. It was rather foreboding.

"It's curious Miss Potter, that you should be destined for this wand, when its brother gave you that scar."

_Flashback end_

Harley shook her head, emptying her mind of the encounter with the wandmaker. She did not want to think of the terrible truth behind her scar, her parents' death, or Voldemort at the moment.

Her only worry now was actually getting to her new school, and there were many issues with that particular task, the first issue being her transportation. She wasn't quite sure if her Uncle would take her to the train station, it being to take her to a magical school and all. And as for her second issue well, that was brought up in the discussion of transportation with her Uncle.

"Platform nine and three quarters!" Uncle Vernon's face was going from pink to red, then blue very fast. "What are the flying carpets all out of order?"

Harley simply shifted her feet and waited for his reply, knowing that anything she could possibly say at the moment would only aggravate the situation.

After a few minutes Vernon's face changed back to a somewhat normal coloring. "Hn," he grunted, "fine we'll take you to the bloody station. We need to have Dudley's ruddy tail removed that day anyway." Harley gave a sigh of relief. That was one problem down. One more to go.

-HP-

Harley walked between the platform signs reading Nine and Ten, paused for a moment, and then sighed. This was exactly what she had thought would happen.

When she had arrived, Harley quickly gathered all of her belongings from her Uncle's car. As soon as she had done so, Vernon hopped back in his car, slamming the door behind him, and gave a crazed laugh.

"Ha! Good luck finding your platform! It doesn't exist!" Then the Dursley family drove off and Harley suspected they were laughing all the way.

"Stupid wizards, with their stupid platform numbers that don't bloody exist," Harley mumbled angrily under her breath. She looked around again, searching for any sign of abnormality at all, that could lead her to the seemingly nonexistent platform.

"…packed with muggles of course".

Harley whipped her head around looking for the source of the voice. Only one type of people would use the word muggle. To her relief, the group from which the statement came from stuck out like a sore thumb, if not from the obvious owl one boy carried, then from the group's startlingly fire red hair.

There were six of them in all. They stopped just in front of a large brick pillar, and Harley nervously approached them from behind, staying just far enough away to where they wouldn't notice her

. "Alright Percy", the plump woman said, "you first." Harley looked on and almost screamed as the oldest of the group ran head first into the _**solid **_stone pillar. Right as he was about to collide though, he disappeared! Harley gasped.

"Alright Fred, you next." Two twin boys stepped forward and one of them spoke affronted, but Harley could see a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm not Fred, he is," he said pointing to his twin. "Honestly, and you call yourself our mother."

Their mother looked at them exasperated. "Sorry George." The boys laughed. "Just kidding, I am Fred," and with that Fred and George ran and disappeared into the pillar, one after the other.

Harley decided that it was now or never. "Ex-excuse m-me," she said stepping forward. She was not looking forward to running into a wall_._

"Yes dear?" the mother of the group spoke smiling at her.

The woman _looked_ friendly to Harley at least. "Um, c-could you show me, I m-mean I don't-"

"Oh, you mean how to get on to the platform?"

-HP-

Harley looked around platform nine and three quarters with pure glee written all over her face. A scarlet train was stopped in the station while people crowded around it, loading their supplies and searching for a compartment. She was finally going to Hogwarts! All around she saw obviously wizard families say their goodbyes. She thought she even saw one kid holding crate with a spider in it.

Close to her she saw a small plump boy looking towards an older lady with a sad frown on his face. "Gran, I lost my toad."

"Oh Neville..."

"Come on Hedwig", Harley whispered pushing her luggage toward the train.

Minutes later, what any passerby would see while looking at Harley Potter would be a small girl trying futilely to lift a rather large trunk twice her size onto the train. It was a funny sight to say the least.

"Hello there!" Harley turned around, letting her trunk fall to the ground, to see the two twin red headed boys from the group before smiling brightly at her. One of them nodded his head at her trunk.

"Do you-

need help-

with that," they finished together.

"Um s-sure, thanks!"

Together all three students managed to load her trunk and owl in a matter of minutes. As she brushed her bangs from her now very sweaty forehead, her scar became clear for anyone to see. And by anyone that meant two particular red headed twins.

Harley froze when she heard the two simultaneous gasps. Glancing back at them she saw that both boys were gaping at her, looking very much like two fish out of water.

"Blimey-

are you-

she is!"

"Am I what?"

"Harley Potter!" the chorused in unison.

"Oh her, I m-m-mean, uh y-yeah I am." She grinned sheepishly while berating herself in her mind. _Way to make a first impression Harley. _

They grinned "Wicked"…but kept their piercing gaze on Harley's scar. Finally, seeing the girl's obvious discomfort the twin on the right turned to his brother and whacked him upside the head. Harley gaped. Was he crazy?

"Forge, what are you staring at you dunderhead?" The boy addressing his brother turned to Harley, "I'm sorry milady for the unforgivable actions of my no longer related brother of mine". He lifted her hand and pecked it. Forge looked affronted, but still had a playful gleam in his eyes.

"Dunderhead! Madam, do not let Gred's obvious lie discount you from my superior grace and finesse." He stepped up and forcefully nudged his brother away, taking his place in front of Harley.

"My dear brother, to what grace and finesse are you referring to?"

"Well, the ones that you missed out on in birth", Forge said with a smile, taking his turn to whack his brother's head.

By this time Harley was sure she had a few broken ribs from the laughter she was trying to hold in.

"Fred! George! Get back over here!" their mother called.

They paused in their theatrics and turned to Harley. "Well, see ya later Harley!"

She smiled, liking these two immediately. "Bye guys!"

Turning away, the boys ran back to the rest of their family.

Feeling much better, Harley turned and got on the train. Or she would have, had she not been able to hear the resulting conversation of her encounter with the twins.

"Mum," they both practically yelled out approaching the plump woman, "you will never believe who we met!"

Their mother looked at them suspiciously."I won't? Who?"

"Harley Potter!"

The youngest of the group, and only girl, took on a look of complete adoration. Harley cringed. "Oh mum, can I please go see her?"

The woman looked at her daughter sharply, "Absolutely not Ginny. She is not some trophy to gawk at!" She sighed, "No wonder she seemed so shy when she asked how to get on to the platform."

The twins glanced at each other, "Hey mum do ya think see remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" This time their mom directed her piercing gaze at the twins.

"I forbid you from asking her. She does not need reminding of such a horrible thing on her first day of school." Harley decided, right then and there, that the twin's mom was her new best friend.

"Fine, fine, keep your hair on", they said backing away, holding their hands out in front of them surrendering.

The oldest of the boys turned to his mother, "Well I've got to go ahead. Prefects get their own cabins you know." He finished his sentence with his nose in the air and his chest flung out with pride.

"Oh, you're a prefect Percy! You should've told us", one twin said with mock surprise.

"Well now that I think about it, he may have mentioned it once-

Or twice-

An entire week-

Or all summer!" they finished together grinning madly.

"Shut up," Percy the prefect snapped and the twins laughed until he walked off.

Their mother turned her attention back onto them, "Now I don't want to hear that you've gotten into trouble or blown up a toilet or-"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never done that before-

but thanks for the great suggestion!"

"Enough already!" their mother shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

"Can't I go mum," the youngest girl whined.

"Not yet Ginny. You're not old enough yet."

The twins smiled at their sister. "Don't worry Ginny-

we'll owl you a Hogwarts toilet seat!"

At that Harley couldn't help but snort, though their mother looked less than pleased. The train whistled and The-Girl-Who-Lived turned to board the steaming train; to begin her first journey to Hogwarts.

-HP-

Harley sat by the window and watched as houses flashed by the countryside. It had only been maybe five minutes since the train left the station, but she was already bored out of her mind. She turned as her compartment door was slid open, and a red head boy, who could only be Fred and George's little brother, popped his head in.

"Anyone sitting in here? Everywhere else is full…" he mumbled shuffling his feet. Harley shook her head and the kid sat down.

"Hey Ron."

Harley whipped her head back to the door and grinned. The twins were back. "Listen, we're going to go meet up with Lee Jordon. We heard he's got a tarantula with him!" Ron looked sick at the thought. "Right…" he mumbled.

"Oh and Harley", they turned to her, "I don't believe you had the pleasure of having us introduce ourselves." She shook her head, even though she already knew who they were. "Fred and George Weasley. And that there is our lil' ickle Ronnikins (Its Ron!)."

They nodded at the boy sitting across from her. "A pretty thing like you doesn't need our brother bothering you", they winked at her. "If he bugs you feel free to kick him to the curb." Harley laughed, "Nah he's ok". The duo nodded and turned to leave.

"See ya"

"Bye guys", Harley and Ron called out from behind them. The twins slid the door shut behind them and were gone.

"Are you really Harley Potter?" Ron blurted out. Harley sighed, "Last time I checked yeah". Ron turned scarlet. "Sorry I just thought that Fred and George were pulling another prank or something". Harley mulled over this tidbit before smiling, "Yeah, yeah that's understandable."

An uncomfortable silence drew out for another few minutes. "Have you really got the scar?" And that began one of the seemingly longest journeys of Harley's life.

-HP-

"Has anyone seen a toad?" Ron paused in his explanation of Quidditch to Harley and they both turned to the girl that had entered their compartment.

She had the bushiest brown hair Harley had ever seen with larger than normal front teeth. "A boy named Neville lost one."

They two kids sitting down turned to each other, and then back to the girl. "No, sorry we haven't," Harley replied.

"Oh, well you should start getting changed into your robes. We should be getting close to Hogwarts now. I'm Hermione Granger by the way. And you two are?"

"Ron Weasley"

"Harley Potter".

Hermione lit up. "Ooh, are you really?"

"Nah she's captain of the Hollyhead Harpies." The girl turned and scowled at Ron before addressing Harley.

"You're famous you know? Of course, I've read all about you, you're in _the Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Great wizards and Witches of the Twentieth Century, _and-"

"Really?". Harley was feeling a bit sick now.

"Yup. You know if it was me, I'd research all I could about it."

Hermione turned to leave but before she left she turned back and addressed Ron, "You've got dirt on your nose by the way. Did you know?" And with that said, she left. Ron rubbed at his nose furiously, mumbled a bit about 'bossy nobodys', and they returned to continue their interrupted conversation, delving into the seeker position, Hermione, her books, and the toad less boy Neville completely forgotten.

The compartment door slid open and Harley groaned. _Please don't be Hermione again,_ she begged_, be something enjoyable like the trolley cart or something. _Both kids turned but it was neither Hermione nor the trolley cart.

In stepped three boys, one of which she could immediately identify as the boy she met at Madam Malkins. On either side of him were the biggest kids Harley had ever seen, looking like bodyguards.

The blonde's gaze went to Harley first and he studied her with intense eyes, much more so than he had in Malkins. "So it's true. Harley Potter is coming to Hogwarts." He nodded to the boys on either side of him. "They're Crabbe and Goyle". The pale boy flashed Harley a smile. "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy". At that, Ron gave a snort, _cleverly _disguised as a cough.

. "Think my name's funny, do you?" Malfoy turned a somewhat disgusted look to Ron. "No need to ask who you are. Red hair, hand-me down robes, and more children than they can afford. You're a Weasley." Ron gave Malfoy a furious glare, and Harley couldn't help but do the same. Draco turned back to Harley. "You'll soon find that some families are better than others, Harley. I can help you there." Draco stuck his hand out with a triumphant smirk on his face.

Harley snorted. She might not be familiar with the wizarding social status yet, but she was going to defend her friends fiercely, no matter who they were.

"You know Draco," Harley began, paying no attention to his outstretched hand, "if you want to be my friend, insulting my _current_ friends when you first meet them is probably not the best thing to do." Draco's ears burned scarlet lowering his hand, and Harley continued. She kind of felt bad for the kid but she did not appreciate his overly enflamed ego and she was going to let him know.

"I don't know what's wrong with my friends that I have, but if you want to get to know me, I'd appreciate it if you at least made an effort to be nice." If it was possible, Draco's face color turned more violent than her Uncle Vernon's did, and Harley cringed a bit, waiting for his sure to be biting remark.

"Let's go" and he turned to leave.

Harley blinked. He wasn't going to say anything back? The guy didn't seem like the type to just let something like that go, but apparently he was. Soon the door slid shut, and the due were once again alone.

"Malfoys are all gits by nature", Ron practically spat.

"Well…"

"Harley, _please _tell me you're not actually going to defend the slime ball?"

She shuffled her feet. "He didn't seem that bad…" she mumbled suddenly regretting her harsh words. Ron looked flabbergasted. "Whatever you say Harley". Their door slid open once again.

Harley turned to look at who had interrupted her peace once again and groaned. It was Hermione Granger and she looked rather offended. "Well sorry. I just came to tell you we're almost there." With that she stormed out of their cabin closing the door for hopefully the final time.

-HP-

"Firs' years!" Harley looked around the platform trying to find Hagrid. "Firs' yeas over here", he bellowed. Harley smiled, grabbed Ron and ran over through the crowd to greet her giant friend, not noticing Ron's ears burning red. When they stopped in front of him, Ron looked awed at the giant's size, "Whoa".

"Hey Hagrid", Harley greeted brightly. "Well, 'ello 'Arley! How was yer first ride to Hogwarts?" At this, she beamed. "Absolutely brilliant." The giant nodded his approval, "Right then, four to a boat."

Harley looked over to find Ron still standing beside her, "That's one big dude. Is he part giant or something?"

"I'm not sure. He might be." And they both hopped into the nearest boat with Hermione and Neville, having apparently found his toad, joining them.

Malfoy, his two body guards, and a girl that had a similar face to that of a pug, were in the boat next to Harley's. As she caught Draco's eyes, she gave him a small, apologetic smile. The pale boy looked bewildered at her; the pug look-a-like sent a furious glare her way.

Her glare was lost on the green eyed girl however, because right then the boats rounded a corner and came into a full view of Hogwarts castle.

At that moment Harley felt that she had never seen anything more beautiful, light up the night sky. The windows were gleaming and reflected on the smooth water surface. The castle itself stood tall and majestic, with its towers reaching up to the stars.

And not for the first time in the years to come, Harley felt genuinely happy looking up at her new home.

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A/N: Now if if anyone has concerns over Draco being OOC remember,Harry is a girl. Draco is a boy. He will react differently. And this is also a FANfiction. I will mess with it as much as i want to or not :)!

Virtual Bertie Botts to anyone who has the heart to review!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I solemly swear that I do not own Harry Potter...I am also up to no good.

**A/N**: Now i am not a schedule person at all whatsoever. So I will update randomly. It make take a week, or a month, or possibly years (though not likely to ever hapen) but i will update.

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Chapter Four

Hats and Hogwarts

"Firs' years McGonagall." A stern older woman, with her black hair pulled into a tight bun and dressed in an emerald green cloak stepped forward and greeted the group entering the castle.

"Thank you Hagrid." She glanced around at the children before leading them into a small circular side room from the entrance. After all the students were gathered, she addressed them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts Schoole of Witchcraft and Wizardry, my name is Professor McGonagall. Now in a moment you will be sorted into your house. The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Here, your house will be something like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking will lose you points." Harley imagined that Fred and George had lost quite a few.

"Before I introduce you to the rest of the school you best smarten yourselves up as best you can." At this she looked pointedly in the direction of Harley, whose hair was as messy as ever, and Ron who apparently still had dirt on his nose. With that said she turned and left the nervous batch of students to themselves

"How do you think they're going to sort us?" he whispered. Harley merely shrugged in response and Ron gulped. "I heard it is supposed to be painful."

"Maybe we'll have to do magic!"one kid said.

At that, Hermione Granger began listing every spell she had learned to anyone who would listen while Harley silently pleaded for her to just shut up.

McGonagall stepped back out in front of the first years. "Follow me." The stern Professor led the group away and through two grand brass doors.

The sight that greeted the first years beyond the doors made most of them gasp, Rona and Harley included. They had been led into a grand hall shimmering with lights and packed with what Harley assumed to be the rest of the student body. There were four tables, two on each side of her, filled with students, and one long one facing them in the front where the staff was seated.

Harley gulped, suddenly wishing she hadn't eaten anything at all on the way here, or anytime during the day at all for that matter. Walking down the hall, it seemed like she was surrounded on all sides by people just staring at them. A lot of people.

"The ceiling's enchanted to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione said in an excited whisper to a fellow first year. Harley looked up and welcomed the distraction.

Sure enough, the ceiling was gleaming with stars and clouds swirling about in the night sky. Floating beneath that were thousands of candles lighting up the great hall and giving it a mystical, majestic feel.

McGonagall stood up on a platform and turned to face the students holding a long piece of parchment in one hand and an old tattered hat in the other. "When I call out your name, you will come up to the stool, place the hat on your head, and be sorted into your house."

"I'm gonna kill Fred. He said we had to wrestle a troll", Ron muttered and Harley giggled, feeling her nerves calm down a bit.

As McGonagall started called names Harley successfully zoned out the sorting only clueing in when names she recognized were called, the first being Hermione Granger's.

"Granger, Hermione." The aforementioned shakily walked up to the stool chanting something about being relaxed and placed the hat on her head.

"Please not Gryffindor. Please not Gryffindor," Ron mumbled under his breath, squinting his eyes and crossing his fingers.

"GRYFFINDOR," the hat shouted.

Ron groaned and Harley nudged him with her elbow, snuffling her laughter at the same time. The newest Gryffindor hopped off the stool and trotted over to the cheering table.

The sorting continued, and Harley looked over to what she assumed to be the Gryffindor table searching for the twins. Sure enough, they were sitting in the middle and winked at Harley as they caught her eye, making her smile and wave.

"Malfoy, Draco."

Harley's attention shot back to the hat where sure enough, Draco was putting the hat on. After the barely touching his head the hat gave its verdict.

"SLYTYHERIN."

"Figures," Ron grumbled and Harley simply sighed. Draco walked off to join his table smirking triumphantly.

As the selection continued, Harley became more and more nervous. _What if the hat doesn't sort me anywhere? What if I'm sent back to the Dursleys?_ Harley shook her head. It was ridiculous to worry about it. She had to be sorted somewhere, after all she had already been admitted, right?

"Potter, Harley."

The entire Great Hall froze, along with Harley before she realized it was her that was being called. As she walked up to the school she could hear the whispers behind her.

"Potter? Did she say Potter?"

"_The_ Harley Potter!"

The whispers continued up until she sat on the stool, and the last thing Harley saw before everything was enveloped in blackness, was the entire student body craning their necks to get a better look at her. It did not help her nerves at all.

"Interesting, very interesting," a voice whispered. "You would do well in any house, but where to put you?" Harley panicked. Any house! She didn't want to be separated from her friends or friend at the moment.

"You're loyal to a fault, but have plenty of courage I see…not a bad mind either, you could do well in Ravenclaw. Oh and a nice thirst to prove yourself; quite cunning, though your looks may be deceiving. You would do well in Slytherin."

Harley felt her breath catch in herthroat. She did not, absolutely _did not_, want to go to the house Voldemort came from. It wasn't that she had a problem with being a snake, heck she could talk to them! "Well then it should definitely be…

"S-"

_NO!_ Harley shouted her thoughts and the hat choked on what it had been about to announce to the hall and everyone in it. The sorting hat sounded almost shocked as it whispered in her head. "No…are you sure? Slytherin would be perfect for you. It could help you on your way to greatness no doubt about that. No?" _Yes! Definitely no! _

"Well then it had better be…"

"GRYFFINDOR," the hat shouted the last word out to the hall.

Harley let out a breath that she was holding in and warily took off the hat, making her way to the Gryffindor table on shaky legs. Had she not been so distracted, she would have noticed that she was receiving the loudest ovation of any student, with the twins standing and swaying side by side chanting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Harley took the first seat she spotted, which happened to be to the left of Hermione Granger, and waited for the sorting to finish.

Finally it was Ron's turn and the hat took all of two seconds on his head to decide and bellow

"GRYFFINDOR," out to the hall.

The newest Gryffindor trotted over to the empty seat on the right of Harley, and plopped down in it giving her a wide smile. "Congratulations Ron." Harley smiled at him.

"I'm just glad that I'm not alone with that know-it-all. I thought for sure you'd be a 'Claw." Ron had found out about her 'nerdy' reading pastime on the train ride to the school.

The rest of the sorting seemed to fly by compared to the beginning and finally ended with "Zabini, Blaise" going to Slytherin. Up at the head table, Albus Dumbledore rose to give a few words.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Harley, along with any others who were not familiar with the headmaster's mannerisms, gaped openly at him. Then she started to laugh, failing horribly at trying to contain it. Wizards were so _weird._

"Is he raving mad!" Ron exclaimed. Harley looked at him thoughtfully.

"Well, he's said to be a genius and people say he is the best wizard of the century so… yeah, I think he might be a bit mad." In fact to Harley, almost every wizard seemed a bit mad in some way or another.

"Good. I thought it was just me who thought that."

"Oooh!" Harley turned to see what Hermione was exclaiming over and, yet again, was left gaping at the endless piles of food that had suddenly appeared on the previously empty platters. She spotted some steak and grinned. She could definitely get used to this place.

-HP-

"Caput Draconis." Everyone entered the Gryffindor dormitories. After the brilliant dinner, followed by dessert, the students exited the hall to head back to their rooms with warnings from Dumbledore not to go down the third floor corridor, or into the Forbidden forest. Harley could've sworn as the headmaster spoke about the last part, that he was looking straight at the twins. Huh, she wondered why.

"These," Percy began gesturing around him, "are your dormitories. Girls are upstairs on your right, and boys the same on your left. You will find your belongings already at the foot of your beds." And with that, Prefect Percy left the first years to their own devices.

Harley yawned widely. "G'night Ron."

"See ya Ley."

At that Harley stopped and turned back to Ron. "Ley?"

Ron looked suddenly uncomfortable and his ears burned. "Yeah, you know Ley, like a nickname. I mean if you don't like it-"Harley shook her head fiercely, and smiled at her friend.

"No, I think it's brilliant. See you in the morning."

The red head looked relieved. "Yeah, alright see ya."

Harley climbed the stairs and stopped in front of the door labeled _first years_ and opened it. The room was circular with five beds. Eventually she found her own bed and items up against the far wall beneath a window along with her owl. If her stuff hadn't already been in that spot, she would have definitely moved them there.

"Hey Hedwig." She opened her owl's cage and ruffled her feathers lovingly before opening the window for her to fly out. She turned to the only bed next to hers to see who her only neighbor would be.

A neatly written scrawl of _Hermione Granger_ could be made out on the small trunk next to the foot of the only bed next to Harley's. She sighed. It could be worse, she supposed. She could always be stuck between that Lavender girl and the Patil twin. Now that would be truly awful, they seemed to like to chatter a lot. Scratch that, 'chattering' seemed to be the only thing they did. It was probably why they hit off as soon as they met.

At least Hermione seemed to like to read and appeared quite smart. Maybe being next to her wouldn't be such a bad thing. Heck, they might even become friends. Harley snorted. Ron would kill her if that ever happened. Hermione was to bossy and nosey for his taste, he had said so himself.

-HP-

The next morning, Harley was up, showered, and dressed before most of the girls were even opening their eyelids. What could she say, she was an early riser. That and she wanted to avoid as many awkward stares directed at her as possible.

"Morning Harley", Hermione greeted as Harley passed her by on the way out. Hermione was the only girl other than Harley even partially awake at the moment.

"Morning Hermione, see in the Great Hall", Harley threw back over her shoulder as she rushed down the stairs. Where she ran into a face first collision with another girl named Katy.

As they both lay sprawled across the floor, Harley's face burned beet red. "Oh I am so sorry!"

The older girl, now standing, laughed, "Don't worry; I've had much worse in Quidditch. The name's Katy Bell." She reached out her hand and pulled Harley up off the ground. "Just be careful. You don't want to run head first into the wrong person." Harley nodded vigorously at the older girl's advice and Katy laughed again. "Well, see ya". As she turned to leave, Harley looked around only to find Ron standing across the hall laughing his guts out, presumably, at her mishap.

Harley walked over to him, her face once again turning to its customary beet red. "HA! Nice one Ley", Ron gasped between laughs. "I haven't seen such a spectacular fall since Fred and George put gnome oil on our stairs, right before Percy came rushing down."

"Oh Ron, I believe you are forgetting the incident where we put a fake spider on your nose while you were sleeping."

Both Harley and Ron whipped around to find the twins standing behind them, grinning like Cheshire cats at Ron.

"Yes. And we just can't recall how you managed to fall not only out of your own bed but-

out your door-

through the hall-

down the stairs-

and all the way outside into a mud puddle!" the finished together.

Harley looked back and forth from the twins to Ron for a few seconds before she started giggling madly, unable to stop. And this time it was Ron's face that turned seven different shades of red.

"What do you mean you can't 'recall'! You guys were the one who kept tripping me out into that mud puddle!" he stated furiously.

The twins grinned at each other, "Oh yeah, now we remember."

"You both better head to the Great Hall to get your class schedules," they said turning to Harley. "Would care for an escort milady?" They both bowed to her and she smiled deviously.

"Sure guys."

Ron looked on disgusted. "_Would you care for an escort milady?" _he mimicked.

The twins both grinned at Ron. "Not to worry Ronninkins! We shall escort you as well." Ron's face grew startlingly pale at that.

As the group finally entered the Great Hall Ron sped to the food, and away from the twins, as fast as he possibly could. After leaving the tower, the group had to stop a couple of times when Ron had mysteriously almost tripped down several flight s of stairs. Harley glanced at the twins who were whistling a slow funeral march. …_Nah they looked to innocent_. Maybe too innocent.

Now seated at the table, Harley glanced around, waiting for the schedules, while Ron was busy stuffing his face with food. Glancing she saw Dumbledore in the center of the staff table, with Hagrid on one far end, and Professor McGonagall was seated on the right side of the headmaster. Her eyes were caught by Professor Quirrell, or rather who he was talking to.

The man seemed tall, with black hair hanging around his face almost reaching his shoulders, with a crooked nose, and cold obsidian eyes. The man turned away from Quirrell and Harley could've sworn he had looked right at her before turning to his breakfast.

All of a sudden a sharp pain stabbed at Harley's forehead. "Ouch!" She slapped her hand to the abused area.

"Ley, you ok?" Ron asked through mouthfuls of food. Said girl shook her head and looked a bit green seeing the food hanging out of Ron's mouth.

"Yeah. Who is that man talking with Professor Quirrell?" It was Percy who answered.

"Oh you already know Quirrell. Well that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, although everyone knows it's the Dark Arts he fancies. He's been after Quirrell's job for years". _Huh, _Harley thought, _No wonder the Quirrell looks terrified out of his right mind._ Though, mind you, he always looked terrified.

A piece of paper was set down in front of Harley and she looked down. It was their schedule. She scanned through it hungrily, looking for her first Transfiguration class.

"Oh no", Harley turned to Ron who looked a little green. "We have double Potions with Slytherin first thing in the morning!" Harley looked through her schedule again. So they did. "Hm, I'm kina excited. Potions does look a bit interesting." Ron gaped at her.

"Are you kidding? It's with the _Slytherins_. And if that's not enough, we have Snape for a teacher. Everyone knows he favors his snakes." Ron practically spat out the last bit.

"I'm sure he's not that bad." Though, as she said this she glanced up at Snape again. He did look kinda fierce and Harley hoped the class wouldn't be too bad.

-HP-

"There will be no foolish wand waving in this class."

The door slammed open, and Professor Snape strode through, his black cloak billowing behind him. At least he knew how to make an entrance. "The art of potions is extremely delicate, and I do not expect you to understand or appreciate the control and concentration this class takes. Especially if you area my usual class of dunderheads that I am required by the school to teach." He turned to give the group of students an icy glare that could have made the Bahamas freeze over.

With that he began roll call and Harley gulped down the lump in her throat. Ok, so he might be as bad as Ron feared. She looked around the class to find some familiar faces. Ron was sitting beside her with Hermione sitting next to Lavender in the desk in front of them. Over on the other side or "Slytherin" side, as it contained only that house, Harley spotted Draco sitting next to that pug girl, Pansy wasn't it, with his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle in the desk behind him.

"Potter, Harley" She looked up as her name was called. "H-here', she answered in a quiet voice. Snape paused for a moment and gave her an unidentifiable look then continued down the list. After he was finished he laced his fingers together began the introduction to potions in a dangerously smooth voice. "I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses; even put a stopper on death." Harley was awed. Potions, it seemed, was going to be even better than she thought.

"Miss Potter." Or not. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Harley wracked her brain for an answer while Hermione's hand shot in the air.

She remembered reading about it in her potions text. "D-draught of the Living death sir."

Snape looked at her a bit surprised, but continued nonetheless, "Tell me, what is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane." Harley brightened, she definitely remembered this one. "They're the same plant, also known as aconite." Snape looked at her, and Harley dreaded that he was going to shoot another question.

"Weasley." Ron face went several shades paler. "Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"

Ron glanced at Harley, and then to Hermione who's hand had shot in the air once again. "I don't know s-sir. But I think Hermione does sir, you should ask her sir."

Snape smirked at Ron while the rest of the class snickered. Harley was suddenly very glad that she had already answered her questions.

"Pity, but what can you expect from a Gryffindor and on top of that a Weasley. And two points for the cheek Weasley." By the time he was finished Ron was white as a sheet, and his theory of Snape hating Gryffindors seemed much more likely to be true.

As the class continued, things did not improve. Harley had managed to make a decent enough potion after limiting Ron's involvement to gathering ingredients and handing them to her. "Weasley!" both Ron and Harley cringed as Snape approached their potion.

"What do you think you are doing?" Snape had one single eyebrow raised expectantly and a slight smirk on his face, though, Harley had a feeling nothing either of them could say was going to change his response.

"Um, a potion sir," Ron stuttered out.

"Hm, and how is sitting there looking like buffoon while Miss Potter does the assignment, doing anything? Another two points from Gryffindor for your clear disregard of my instructions." Harley cringed. Snape _really_ did not like Ron.

And it became apparent as the class continued that Ron was not the only Gryffindor the potions master loathed, for minutes later Neville Longbottom had managed to melt his and another Gryffindor named Seamus' cauldron into a mangled mess spilling the contents all over himself.

Snape glared furiously at Neville, who was now cowering in his seat. "You incompetent fool. I suppose you put the quills in before you took the cauldron of the fire? Ten points from Gryffindor for your almost disastrous mistake." Then he whirled around spotting Harley's and Ron's table next to Neville's. He glanced at Harley and for a split second she thought he was going to blame her. But instead, and thankfully depending on who you are, he instead turned his rage on Ron.

"I suppose you didn't stop Longbottom thinking he would make you look better hm Weasley? Another two points from Gryffindor for your lack of judgment." Harley gaped. They hadn't even noticed what Neville was doing. They were concentrating on theirs and it could have easily been her instead of Ron, not that it was mind you.

"But sir-"

"Nothing from you Potter. Just because Mr. Weasley is incapable of defending himself, does not mean that he needs his little friends doing it for him." Harley blushed scarlet in embarrassment and Ron glared down at his shoes, unwilling to do anything else.

The human bat turned back to Neville, who had at this point become covered in painful red boils from the _anti-_boil solution they were supposed to be brewing. "Clean this mess up and somebody take Mr. Longbottom to the Infirmary." Harley's face burned if possible redder and she could hear a couple of the Slytherins laughing at them. She later noted, however, that it seemed like Malfoy was not among the ones laughing. He was merely smirking a bit at Neville as he exited the classroom.

-HP-

"That was completely unfair!" Ron had been ranting the minute they duo had stepped out of the dungeons. He hadn't started before because he had a sneaking suspicion that Snape had ears in the corridors. "Is he mental! It wasn't as if we could see, let alone, stop what Neville was doing. And you were just trying to defend me; he didn't need to call you out at that." They had been out of the dungeon for fifteen minutes.

"Ron, he really didn't call me out that badly."

He grunted, "Doesn't matter, that guy's still a git. Oh and by the way, thanks for sticking up for me at all Ley". She beamed. "No problem Ron. Happy too."

Ron blushed a bit, "Yeah well, I wish McGonagall would favor us as much as Snape did his snakes. She doesn't cut us slack at all!" Harley had to admit he was right about that.

Thankfully, the next class was Charms with the 'Claws and was much less tense than potions had been. It was quite enjoyable with the miniature teacher Flitwick, and Harley even got a good laugh when he came to her name on the list and toppled of the pile of books he had been standing on with a small squeak of astonishment.

Harley enjoyed her other classes to varying degrees. She had looked forward to Defense Against the Darks Arts but it turned out to every bit the disappointment she thought t might be with Quirrell teaching it. The classroom also smelled distinctly of garlic. Seamus' theory was that he was warding off a vampire he offended in during his hands on field work trip. Did Harley believe it? Maybe.

Every Wednesday at midnight all of the first years had Astronomy. Harley actually liked the class, not that she paid attention during it. Most of the time she zoned out simply looking at the stars rather than graphing them. Ron snored during the class most nights.

The rest of the week was a blur to both Harley and Ron, with the only highlight for her being Transfigurations. They had nearly been late the first time due to a door with an attitude, and the only reason they weren't was because Harley refused to be late to her favorite subject.

Her excitement was short lived though when she discovered all they would be doing was turning matchsticks into needles. It turned out that this was harder than it sounded, but by the end of class she was the only one that had successfully completed the task, rather quickly as well, with Hermione in a close second. Professor McGonagall showcased her perfect needle for all to see giving Harley a rare quick smile.

Harley decided that Transfiguration was easily her favorite class. Ron's only input was that he couldn't believe that she was such a nerd.

* * *

Virtual Chocolate frogs to anyone who Reviews! :D And all flames will be immediatly forwarded to Voldy and or my next door neighbor. He's a jerk.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers, i really do. If I didn't own the Harry Potter franchise in the few chapters what makes them think I own it now. Cuz i don't...unfourtunately.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Quidditch Mishaps and Triplet Monsters**

"I still can't believe we have our fist Quidditch lesson with the _Slytherins." _

Harley sighed once again. "It's not like they planned it Ron. They're probably about as enthusiastic about it as we are." Ron scowled a bit more, savagely biting off his sausage as he did so. Poor sausage. "Bet you they're still gonna try and ruin though."

She rolled her eyes and turned toward her own breakfast plate suddenly not feeling as hungry as she had this morning.

It was the first weekend at Hogwarts, which meant the first flying lessons for the newest years. Unfortunately the excitement of flying all but ended for the Gryffindors as soon as they discovered who they would be sharing the class with. Slytherins.

The Slytherins weren't the only thing causing distress among the first years. Ever since learning about the lessons, Hermione Granger had gone straight to what she deemed to be the Savior of Mankid, the library, to research how to fly. Currently she was spouting off random facts from her newest book, Quidditch Through the Ages, to anyone who would hear. Anyone meaning poor Neville Longbottom who was hanging off her every word like a lifeline.

Across from her were Dean and Seamus Finnegan blabbering about their childhoods zooming through the countryside on brooms. Ron, besides his sulking and eating, was doing the exact same thing.

In fact, the only discussions going around the Gryffindor, or any table for that matter, were ones about Quidditch. The children who came from wizard families were recounting tales of Quidditch adventures while muggleborns were busy trying not to panic, Harley included.

It's not like she wasn't excited, she had wanted to try flying ever since she had learned about it on the Hogwarts express. She just didn't feel like making a complete fool of herself in front of Ron or any of the other students for that matter, especially now that she learned the Slytherins would be there.

Speaking of snakes, she swore if she had to listen to Malfoy's story of escaping muggle helicopters one more time she was going to hex him before the class even began.

First she would probably need to learn a hex.

-HP-

It was a nice clear day out with the sun shining, birds singing, and a nice breeze blowing through the air. All of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Students were currently lined next to broomsticks across from each other waiting to begin their first flying lesson. It seem like the universe was smiling down on them today. Harley grimaced as she remembered the last time that the universe seemed to give her a _good_ day.

"Now then what are you waiting for", Madam Hooch barked, striding between the lined up students. She was an older woman with silver, white hair and striking yellow eyes. Over all she gave the impression of an eagle. "Step to the right side of your broom with your hand out and say 'up'."

Harley glanced briefly around to the students around her to see them attempting to do what the teacher instructed. Slowly, she stuck her hand out and gave the command. Harley shook in her spot as her broom jumped into her hand immediately, much too her surprise. Only a few others had the same results one of them being Malfoy's.

"Up!"

WHACK!

Ron's broom jerked up to smack him right in the face and Harley couldn't help but snicker, behind her hand of course. "Shut up Ley…" Ron mumbled rubbing the abused area of his face. Hermione was not having much success either; her broom was simply rolling around on the ground lazily, apparently not feeling the urge to get up. Maybe brooms could fell fear like other animals. Might have explained why Neville's hadn't moved an inch from where it was.

Once everyone was on their broom, Madam Hooch went around correcting the students. Ron got a particular kick when she told Draco that he had been riding his broom wrong for years.

Tuning back to face them all, Madam Hooch began to give them instructions. "Now when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick up from off the ground, hard. 3...2... Mr. Longbottom!" Harley looked to where Neville was and sure enough, his broom had started to rise in the air without instruction. "Mr. Longbottom, come down. Come down here this instant!" Neville's broom, ignoring Hooch's commands and Neville's pleading, shot off higher from the ground and began flying spastically around the courtyard.

After some time his broom eventually bucked him off and he fell hard onto the ground; quite hard too if the thump Harley heard gave any inclination. "Out of my way. Out of the way!" Madam Hooch shouted as she and the entire class rushed to Neville moaning on the ground.

"Oh, oh. A broken wrist. Nothing Pomphrey can't fix." Madam Hooch gripped Neville by the arm and pulled him from the ground. Turning her head she gave the rest of her students a sharp glare. "If I see a single broom in the air, the rider will be out of Hogwarts before they can say Quidditch." With that she sped off the field with Neville in tow.

"Oh look it's the fat lump's little toy." Everyone turned towards Pansy Parkinson who was straightening herself up and holding a curious glass ball up towards the sun. Harley almost gasped when she realized that the glass ball was in fact Neville's remembrall his Gran had sent him.

Pansy was almost bouncing with glee as she tossed the ball over to Draco. Said Slytherin snickered, "Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he would've remembered to fall on his fat arse!" All of the Slytherins burst into laughter while the Gryffindors looked outraged.

"Shut up," Lavender Brown snapped.

"Ooh, I didn't know you liked big babies Lavender," Pansy taunted and Lavender's face burned red.

"I don't!" Pansy and the other Slytherin first years just laughed while Lavender was left speechless, fumbling for a better retort.

"Hand it over Draco." The entire class turned to stare at Harley as she held out her hand expectantly to Draco. She had asked as nicely as she could through clenched teeth all the while silently asking who above had a grudge against her. Draco looked at her curiously but before he had a chance to reply Pansy the pug girl decided to voice her very much unwanted opinion.

"Draco doesn't listen to Gryffindorks like you Potter. Right Draco?"

He paused for a bit longer, then smirked and Harley mentally cursed whatever deity hated her. _Stupid universe, with its bloody, wrongly optimistic looking days. _"You know, I don't think I will." With that he hoped on his broom. "Maybe I'll leave it someplace for the dork to find…like in a tree," and shot off into the air.

Cursing, this time out loud, Harley mounted her own broom.

Hermione did a double take on the raven haired girl preparing for takeoff and marched up to her, hands on her hips and the whole shebang."You can't Harley! You heard what Madam Hooch said!" Ignoring Hermione, and the annoying, gnawing reminder that she had never even flown before, Harley shot off into the sky after Malfoy with Ron cheering her on from the ground.

Rising up, Harley blinked in surprise, and then broke out into a joyous grin that spread across her features, whooping for joy. This was easy! She felt like she had been flying forever, it was so natural! The wind blew her short hair around her face, and she felt it almost caressing her. Just above her she spotted another figure hovering in the air.

Narrowing her eyes, she flew higher until she was at the same height as Draco Malfoy. The dumbfounded look on his face reminded her of Dudley faced with a math problem and she barely resisted the urge to giggle. _Harley potter does not _giggle_ in front of adversaries._ "I thought you had never flown before?" Again Harley almost lost the ongoing giggle battle when Draco's voice literately squeaked out his accusation

Harley grinned wickedly, "I haven't. Now give me back the remembrall Draco before I knock you off your broom." Recovering what little pride he had left, Malfoy looked back towards the ground, then back to Harley, smirking. "Have it your way then"…and he proceeded to chuck the small ball away into the air.

Harley's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she shot after the ball, angling her broom into a steep dive. Racing down, she saw the ground fast approaching and Harley had the fleeting thought of what the Dursley's would do if they discovered she had died via broom. Reaching out she barely snatched the ball in time to pull up her broom and tumble off gently to the ground.

The group of students raced to where Harley was standing up waving the remembrall, cheering at her success, with the exception of Hermione who looked on the scene with a little more than a bit of irritation. Grinning madly, Ron approached her and gave her a huge high five which she gladly returned.

"That was absolutely brilliant Ley! I didn't know you could fly like that."

"Well that makes two of us," she replied beaming back at her friend.

"Harley Potter!"

Harley felt her stomach drop as she turned to face her head of house as she stormed on to the field looking absolutely livid and as white as a sheet.

"I have _never_- In all my years at Hogwarts- How _dare_ you-"

"Professor it's not her fault! She was only-"

"Be quiet Mr. Weasley. Miss Potter please come with me." McGonagall stiffly turned and strode away with a glum Harley in tow, leaving a group of snickering Slytherins and distraught Gryffindors standing in the field.

Walking through the castle, Harley mind whirled with questions and dread. Was she going to be expelled for flying like madam Hooch promised? Did that mean she had to go back to the Dursleys? Her heart sunk at that thought. The Dursleys for sure would give her an earful about being expelled, in her first week no less!

They stopped in front of what Harley recognized as Professor Quirrell's classroom. Before she could ask what they were doing McGonagall knocked on the door to alert the Defense Professor of their arrival. "Professor Quirrell, may I borrow Wood for a moment?" She asked… or demanded more or less.

Wood? Was that some sort of cane she was going to use on her?

Thankfully, Wood turned out to be Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain for the Gryffindors' Quidditch team. "Wood", McGonagall began, her face breaking into a curiously triumphant smile, "I have found you a seeker!"

Wood's face broke out into a grin as he spotted Harley, now bewildered, standing beside the Professor. "Are you sure, I mean she is just a first year," but as he said this, he began walking around her sizing her up. All in all making the girl feel more than slightly uncomfortable.

"She came out of a fifty foot dive catching this," queue remembrall, "without a scratch! Not even Charlie Weasley could do that." McGonagall was practically singing by the end and…bouncing?

Wood on the other hand looked like not only Christmas had come early, but Halloween, Easter, and his birthday as well. "She's just the right size for a seeker too. Light and speedy. We'll have to get her a decent broom, at least a Cleansweep 7 or Nimbus 2000 even."

McGonagall simply nodded, "I'll take care of that and see if I can't get Albus to bend the first year rule." If she was not the stern, serious woman she was, Harley would've thought that McGonagall was literately skipping as the group walked away from the classroom. "We might even win the Quidditch cup this year! It's been getting out of hand with the Slytherins winning every year that I can hardly look Severus in the face anymore," she said almost wistfully.

Suddenly she turned a stern look on Harley. "Now I want to hear you training hard or I might just rethink your punishment." Harley swallowed the lump in her throat, and gave a strained smile. Didn't she get a say?

-HP-

"Seeker!" Ron exclaimed in wonder. "But first years never make the house team! You must be the youngest seeker in a-"

"Century", Harley cut in. "McGonagall told me so earlier."

"Wicked Ley", Ron breathed and Harley laughed it still being a bit strained.

"Congratulations Harley". Both friends turned around to see Fred and George approach them from behind. "Wood's just told us!"

"Fred and George are on the team too. Beaters," Ron supplied helpfully.

"You must be really good Ley, Wood was practically skipping when he told us." The other twin turned back to Harley with a mischievous smile, "Our job is to make sure _you_ don't get bloodied up too bad." They grinned and Harley paled. "You're kidding right?"

"Nah, rough game Quidditch-

but no one's died in years-

some go missing-

But they turn up eventually!" With their job accomplished, the twins ruffled Harley's hair and walked off in the other direction whistling to a slow funeral march. Again.

"I'm not so sure about this anymore…" Ron waved her apprehension off. "Don't listen to them. They're just trying to spook you. You'll do great!" Harley grimaced. "If you say so…"

"Bet you think that's a reward for disobeying, don't you?" The duo looked behind them to find Hermione Granger practically stomping up to them with her eyes narrowed and a book clutched to her chest.

"Course it is," Ron puffed his chest out proudly. "Is that all you've come to tell us now?"

"No in fact it's not," she snapped at the red head. "I'm here to get Harley. She said she would work with me on homework and read over my Transfigurations paper."

Ron turned to gape at Harley while she gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry Ron I forgot to tell you." Quickly grabbing Hermione's arm, she dashed off with a 'See you at lunch' to Ron, who was left alone in the courtyard still gaping after his wayward friend.

-HP-

"Thanks again for helping me Harley," Hermione stated beaming. Harley had to force a smile to come out for the girl who had her locked up in the library for over two hours doing mind numbing homework. Yeah she liked to study, but not _that _much.

"Sure, no problem Hermione," she said walking into into the great hall. By the time the scent of lunch hit her she was drooling with ravenous hunger. She looked back at Hermione for a bit debating on whether to ditch her companion or stick it out to the end. Ditching it is then. As she approached her usual seat at the house table she caught sight of Draco Malfoy and his goons facing Ron and Dean Thomas, both who looked about ready to jump the Slytherins. _Uh oh, that's not going to be pretty._

Walking up she barely caught the last snippet of their 'conversation'.

"Tonight at midnight in the trophy room." With that Draco and his goons turned to leave, winking at Harley as the blonde passed her. Shocked, with her mouth hanging just a bit open, she watched him leave to go take his place at his own table.

"Ron, what was that all about?" Ron looked over his friend surprised. Apparently he had not noticed her arrival.

"Well, uh, I kinda got into a fight with the slimy git Malfoy." He mumbled.

Harley nodded slowly. "Yeah, I expected that, but what was with the whole ominous 'tonight at midnight' thing?" Harley questioned with a raised eyebrow and finger quotes.

"Uh, I uh, kinda challenged him to a… ," Ron said the last part so quietly that she had to strain to hear him.

"A what?"

"A wizard's duel," Dean said looking slyly back at Ron. "And he made you his second!"

Harley blinked. "I'm his what?"

Dean clarified a bit too enthusiastically. "A second is there for if the wizard dueling dies!"

"If someone _dies_," Harley ground out, turning back to glare at Ron who quickly held his hands up in defense and began to back away slowly.

"Nobody will die though Ley! The most we'll be able to do is shoot sparks at each other, really…"

She was not so convinced and continued to hold her glare while Dean gsnickered at his friends misfortune. "I knew she wouldn't be happy with you Ron. Even Malfoy said so." He walked away grinning and whistling to himself.

"Ron, I am not going to participate in this." Harley's look dared Ron to say something. Apparently he was either very brave or just a bit too thick in the head. She went with the latter.

"But Ley, he started insulting my family. I had to do something."

"Then ignore him! Duh he's going to say something that offends you!"

He gave her such a pathetic puppy dog look that she had no choice but to give in. "Fine Ron, I'll go with you to that stupid grudge match." Ron whooped and headed back to his food with renewed vigor and an exasperated friend following behind him, completely unaware of the third party that overheard that particular tidbit of the conversation.

-HP-

"Harley…Harley are you there?"

"Shh. Ron not so loud." Harley hissed at her friend. She could barely see in the darkness, but she was pretty sure that Ron's ears were turning a bit red. They tended to do that from time to time when he got embarrassed. Both friends were currently standing in front of the portrait entrance ready to go to their midnight meeting with Draco and his goons. "Oh sorry Ley," Ron whispered sheepishly.

Harley would've rolled her eyes had Ron been able to see it. "Let's just get this over with already."

"I can't believe you Harley!"Before either were able to leave a light switched on and both Ron and Harley whipped their heads around and came face to face with their confronter. Hermione Granger. _Oh wonderful, of all the people, _she thought bitterly."Hermione, it's not what it looks like", Harley began.

Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "It's not? So you and Ron are _not_ going out to meet Malfoy in the middle of the night and are _not_ breaking school rules to have a wizards duel, which might I add, is breaking _another_ school rule?"

Harley and Ron glanced at each other, and then back to the furious bushy haired girl. "Ok, maybe it is what it looks like."

"Well I won't allow you to go off and lose us tons of house points that I worked hard to earn!" Hermione stated indignantly. Ron groaned and turned once again to Harley with pleading eyes.

Harley sighed and looked back at Hermione with determination, "Hermione, it's not like you'll be able to stop us. And before you say anything, going to a teacher won't help either because then you'll be out of bed breaking the rules and lose even more points. We're going."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply; when it hung open for a minute with nothing coming, she closed it again thinking hard.

"Fine." Ron's face lit up with relief. "I'll go with you to at least keep you at of trouble." Then it fell again with a look of horror.

"You can't-"

"That's fine with us," Harley interrupted giving Ron a warning glare which he gladly sent back. Eventually he gave up seeing knowing that there was no way he could compete against both of the girls. "Hmph." And with that the group headed out the dormitories to the midnight duel.

Or they would've, had not Neville spotted them coming out. Ron groaned, "How many people are just lying around tonight? I mean come on!" Apparently quite a few.

"Thank goodness you guys came out," relief flooded the larger boy's face as he scurried over to the group. Neville was dressed in baby blue pajamas with fuzzy slippers, and if his pajamas gave any indication he had been sleeping on the castle floor.

Hermione simply couldn't believe that there were even more people out breaking the rules. "Neville, what are you doing out here?"

Neville's face became downcast. "Well after I found Trevor, he was lost again, I came back to the common rooms to get in but the password had changed and I couldn't remember it. So the Fat Lady wouldn't let me in and I've been sitting out here for ages." Ron snickered a bit before Harley's elbow was 'gently' (read rather harshly) shoved into his ribs. The raven haired girl turned back to Neville with a bit of pity. "Well the new password is 'flobberworms'. So you can go back…"

Harley let her sentence drift off as her eyes landed on the now empty portrait of the Fat Lady. _Wonderful._ "Oh no," Neville wailed, "how am I supposed to get in now?" Harley traded looks with both Ron and Hermione, their heads shaking fiercely, before replying to Neville's question. "You can come with us if you like." Ron groaned once again.

-HP-

"Maybe he's late," Ron met Harley and Hermione's twin glares with a forced grin that broke as soon as he saw the murderous glint in their eyes.

"I don't think he's coming at all". Neville had stated the very obvious.

"Ron I still can't believe you talked Harley into this! You should've ignored Malfoy and then we would all be safe and warm in our beds and not breaking school rules."

"He insulted my family Hermione! I couldn't just let it go."

"Of course you could have! He was just trying to get a reaction out of you!"

Harley rolled her eyes as the two began to go at it again, not for the first time that night. She tilted her head as she heard a voice. "Well you should have-"

"Shh!" Harley hissed, waving her hands in front of their faces to get their attention. "You hear that?" In the silence, everyone strained to hear what she was talking about and sure enough, "They should be here, my pretty…"

The color drained from all of each of their faces and Harley mouthed 'Filch' to Ron and Hermione. "Come on Mrs. Norris". That was the queue for Harley, Ron, Hermione, and Neville to race though the nearest corridor away from Filch.

As they ran, Ron decided that now was the best time to voice his thoughts. "I think Malfoy set us up."

"You think" Harley commented dryly.

Turning a corner, they were faced with a dead end with a single door. Running forward, Ron tried vainly to open it panicking. "It won't budge!" His voice cracked.

"Oh move over," Hermione nudged Ron out of the waywith a hard shove. "_Alohamora_". The door clicked open and all four of them rushed inside, shutting the door closed behind them. They held their breath as they heard the caretaker approach. After a minute his footsteps were heard retreating along with his voice cursing the existence of Peeves.

Ron gave a relieved sigh, "Good thing he thought this door was locked eh Ley." Harley however was frozen on the spot.

"And for good reason." In front of them, just shaking awake, was a giant thing. Harley would've assumed it to be a dog had it only had one head instead of three. Its paws were at least the size of each of them and it had large globs of drool dripping down each of its mouths. Catching sight of what it assumed to be its next meal, it began to growl in a low and very threatening tone.

Being the brave Gryffindors they were, Harley, Ron, Neville, and Hermione did the first thing that came to mind. They screamed like the terrified eleven year olds they were and sprinted out of the room, locking the door behind them, and running back to the common room where thankfully the Fat Lady had returned.

"Why are you all out of bed at this time of night?" She questioned. "It's much past curfew."

"Flobberworms," Harley gasped.

"Now wait a second-"

"Flobberworms!" Ron this time practically shouted the password at the portrait.

Mumbling about unrespecting first years, the Fat Lady swung open to admit them into the warm, and more importantly non-occupied, common room.

All four kids collapsed on the couches in front of the fireplace bended over and gasping for air. Ron was the first to recover. "What do they think they're doing keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?"

Hermione unfortunately was next. "You didn't see what it was standing on did you?" Ron gave Hermione a look that clearly asked 'are you all right in the head. Lost any marbles?'

"Sorry I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. If you didn't notice there were three!"

Hermione rolled her eyes while Harley and Neville simply looked on as bystanders still gasping for air. "It was standing on a trap door, which means it's guarding something." She stood up strait and took turns glaring between Harley and Ron. "Now I'm going to bed before either of you had another bright idea that gets us killed, or worse…_expelled_."

With her duty done, she turned around and marched back up to her room muttering the whole way up. Neville followed her example and with a quick 'night' he was up in his dorms as well. Ron and Harley were left standing alone in the dark for a bit before Ron broke the silence.

"She needs to sort out her priorities." Harley snorted at Ron's comment, said goodnight, and headed up to her nice and cozy bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

**A/N**: Hello once again my faithful readers to another chapter of Harley Potter! I actually am really starting to enjoy writing this story. I mean sure i kinda enjoyed it before, but know I am really getting into it! Next chapter we'll have a little more developing with Draco Malfoy and such. Not much granted but it'll still be different. Mind you this is still my first story ever, and I must say that I think I'm doing okay compared to some. Oh and also this chapter was edited from the previous one. It is just a bit different.

Review. The button is there for a reason.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. End. Of. Story. And quite frankly I kinda don't want to...besides all the money i could make from it of course.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Trolls, Quidditch, and Faceless Names**

Going to breakfast the next morning, Ron and secretly Harley were satisfied to note Malfoy's shocked expression at their arrival. Clearly he had expected them to be gone by morning. They were tired yes, but still there and smiling brightly.

"Heh, look at the git's face!" Ron snickered. "It was almost worth being caught."

Harley gave Ron a deadpanned look."Yeah for you maybe." And for her, not that she'd ever tell him that.

"Harley", the aforementioned turned to look at Hermione sitting next to her.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that your owl"? Looking up, she spotted Hedwig just in time to catch the rather large package her owl had so graciously dropped right in her lap, before landing next to the raven haired girls plate and nipping her on the fingers. "Ow, Hedwig!" Harley glared at her bird before holding out a thing of bacon. 'No need to get all grumpy girl." Said bird hooted before nibbling on her reward for pestering.

Harley took this time to glance over the package. In was long and from what she could tell not very bulky, wrapped up in crinkled brown paper. Tied to the end of the package was a letter.

Bewildered, Harley turned towards Ron. "I never get mail."

"Well check the letter," he urged. Grabbing the letter she slowly began to rip it open. Reading it, her eyes widened, as did Ron's who was leaning over her shoulder to read it along with her.

'_The following package contains your new Nimbus 2000. I would ask that you please not open this here and wait until you are in your dormitories, as to avoid making a fuss. _

_-McGonagall_

Looking towards the staff table, Harley caught the Transfiguration Professor's eye. McGonagall gave her a rare and quick small smile, and Harley beamed back. Turning back towards her friend, she pulled him up from her chair and practically dragged him out of the Great Hall carrying her package along with her. "Come on Ron! I want to check out my broom."

He grinned, "_You_ want to check it out? _I _want to check it out!"

Before they got past the first corner they were stopped by Pansy Parkinson's shout. Turning they saw that following behind her was who they assumed to be her friend Millicent Bulstrode; a fellow first year Slytherin who was a bit larger than most. Behind her was Draco Malfoy and his normal goon squad. The pug girl's eyes widened at the sight of the unmistakable package that Harley carried in her hands. "That's a broomstick!" She exclaimed looking back up at Harley with her mouth hanging wide open. "First years aren't supposed to have brooms!" Ron decided that now would be a good time to gloat.

"That's not just any broomstick either. It's a Nimbus 2000! What do you have Malfoy? A Cleansweep 6 isn't it?" He finished smirking at Draco triumphantly, while the Slytherin glared back at him.

"It's better than your family could afford even if they sold everything you own, Weasly." Harley, now more than a little irritated at having her surprise ruined, stepped between the two, glaring pointedly at each of them. "Stop it. The both of you."

"Now, what's all this fuss about?" all of the students turned to face the tiny Professor Flitwick who had just entered the corridor and was now headed towards them. Pansy shot Harley a nasty smile before turning to face the Charms teacher putting on her best sickeningly sweet smile.

"Potter's got a broomstick sir!" Flitwick turned and beamed at Harley. "Ah so it's finally come has it? McGonagall was just telling me about it. I do hope you do well Harley. Now if that's all Miss Parkinson, I best be off." And he exited leaving behind gaping Slytherins and triumphant Gryffindors in his wake.

"Ha I bet-" before Ron had a chance to finish, Harley dragged him away from the still dumbstruck Slytherins and towards the Gryffindor common rooms to admire her new broom. And admire it they did.

-HP-

The weeks flew by and Harley was kept busier than ever. Between the almost daily Quidditch practice, classes, and studying with Hermione, Harley had almost no free time whatsoever. Ron often told her that if she would just ditch Hermione, she would have loads more time. Harley couldn't tell if Ron said that because of his dislike for the girl or his dislike for anything school related.

Soon enough Halloween had arrived.

"Now today we are going to be levitating, or making objects fly." Flitwick instructed them from his makeshift stool of books.. "Now remember the incantation and nice wand movements we've been working on, yes. The swish-and-flick. Everyone have your feathers now, yes?" He looked around the classroom filled with Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. "Alright then off you go."

Charms had so far been one of Harley's more enjoyable classes. She wasn't as good at it as Hermione was, the girl excelled in this class, but she was nowhere near as bad at it as Ron was. Ron chalked it up to his hand-me-down wand and disinterest in the subject.

Currently Harley was seated to Seamus Finningan while Ron was stuck sitting next to Hermione. Normally the redhead avoided any contact with the brunette but he had the displeasure of being the target of one of his elder brothers' prank. When h e finally washed all the sparkly pink out of one of his robes, the seat next to her was the only one available, much to his displeasure.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted, waving his wand wildly above the still very much grounded feather.

"No stop, stop. You're going to take someone's eye out," Hermione pushed Ron's wand down. "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Levi-O-sa, not Levios-A."

Ron shot Hermione an annoyed look. "Fine if you're so good, you do it". Brandishing her wand, Hermione instructed, "Wingardium Leviosa", and floated her feather a few feet above her.

"Well done Miss Granger! Now look here class, she's done it!" Flitwick exclaimed to the rest of the class.

Hermione beamed at the praise while Ron rolled his eyes and lowered his head onto the desk muttering about 'know-it-alls. By the end of the class, only Hermione, Harley, and a few 'claws had been able to successfully levitate their feathers, leaving Ron in a foul mood.

"It's _Levi-O-sa_, not _Levios-A_. Honestly she's a nightmare", he ranted, "no wonder she hasn't got any friends." Suddenly, Ron was shoved aside as Hermione came up from behind him and passed him. "I think she heard you mate," Dean whispered.

"Well it's true!" Ron halted and Harley rounded on his, her eyes aflame with anger.

"I'm not sure if you noticed Ron but she was just trying to help you. She didn't have to." She was already in a foul state and was not in the mood to deal with Ron's rants against the bookish girl at the moment. "Honestly, you're as bad as Malfoy sometimes."

Ron looked indignant. "I am not!"

Harley gave him a dry look before turning away and heading towards the library in hopes of finding the distraught girl and calming her down. Ron was left with Dean Tomas and a smoking Seamus Finnigan trying to figure out exactly where he had gone wrong. After a moment his eyes widened in realization. E turned to his the remainder of his friends with his ears burning red. "Uh sorry guys I've gotta go!" And ran off to catch up to Harley.

"Ley! Harley!"

The raven haired girl turned to see Ron running up behind her trying to catch up. "What now Ron," she snapped and Ron cringed a bit.

"Um, I just wanted to see if you were ok." Harley's eyes softened a bit before she replied in a smaller voice.

"Yeah. I'm fine Ron. I'm just going to go see if I can find Hermione." She nudged her head in the direction she had been walking.

"Uh maybe she went to the library," Ron suggested rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Harley just rolled her eyes at him. "No duh Sherlock."

"Sher-what?"

"Nevermind Ron. Nevermmind."

-HP-

It was the Halloween feast and there was still no sign of Hermione, and Harley didn't feel like eating much. Ron stuffing his face with every food imaginable just strengthened her resolve. As Neville sat down to eat on her right side Harley turned to him. "Have you seen Hermione?"

The shy boy looked back at her and shook his head solemly. "No, but I heard Lavender and Parvarti talking and apparently she's been in the girl's bathroom all day, crying." Harley turned to glare at Ron, who was gulping down the last of his chicken having the decency to look at least a bit guilty.

"Well, I'm going to go talk to her and see if I can convince her to come out." She said the last bit with a pointed look at Ron. "I'm not very hungry anyway."

As she left, Seamus turned to Ron and asked a very dumb question, even to Neville. "Why has she been so grumpy today? I haven't seen her smile once! Not even in Transfigurations." Ron had his mouth full at the moment, so Dean answered for him, swatting Seamus upside the head.

"You dimwit. Don't you realize what day it is?" Seamus shook his head and glanced around, apparently waiting for an answer.

"Today's the day her parents died". The quiet answer came from Neville and Seamus' face took on a look of comprehension and quickly morphed into something akin to guilt. "Oh".

Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall were slammed open and all the students turned to face Professor Quirrell as he came running through them, white in the face.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"

-HP-

"Come on Hermione! The Halloween decorations look great!" Harley heard the girl sniffle before she replied, "I don't care now go away."

Harley sighed frustrated. She had been trying everything to get the girl out of that dratted stall and nothing had worked. Flinging her arms up, Harley snapped out not caring anymore, "Fine, if you want to stay in that stupid cubicle moping, then I don't care. It's not like I left my friends at the feast, chewed Ron out, and have been standing here for at least 15 minutes for you in a stupid bathroom when I could be at the feast!" Hermione stopped her sniffling, but Harley took no notice. "Ron was just being pigheaded! He's _always_ like that, even to me!" She was releasing all the pent up tension she had been carrying all day, not caring who she was taking it out on. "I mean it's not like you have something to be justly upset over. Ron was just being an idiot and using that loud mouth of his. So what! It's not like your whole world collapsed. It's not like your all alone, without a family or anyone who cares about the fact that you have no one left. No one…"

By this time, Harley had sunk to the floor and had tears running down her face. She had shouted the last part out and didn't realize that she was no longer shouting at just Hermione.

Turning away she sobbed into her hands not caring if anyone saw. She was tired of holding it in all day. "Oh Harley". She looked back to see Hermione coming out of the stall with big, red, puffy eyes. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize- I mean you must be feeling dreadful."

This time it was Harley who was sniffling. "It's okay. It's not your fault some crazed up psychopath decided to destroy my whole world for no reason at all today."

Hermione looked at the sobbing girl with pity filled eyes. "I am really very sorry. And here I was crying about some stupid boy and his rude comments."

Harley smiled a bit through her tears. "If it makes you feel any better, I've recruited the twins to help me in a prank against him."

Hermione giggled a bit. "Actually it kind of does make me feel a bit better." Harley stood up and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her robes. "Now I'm not sure about you, but I really don't want to go back to the feast." The other girl thought for a bit about this. "Want to go to the library?"

Harley smiled. "Thought you might say that.

As they cleaned up what remained of their heartfelt encounter a foul smell drifted in and filled the entire bathroom. "Ugh", Hermione cried covering her nose, "what is that dreadful smell?" Turning towards the doorway both girls froze in fear.

Standing in the entrance was a giant ten-foot troll with a large club hanging by his side. It's skin was grey and dotted with what looked like warts and he was covered in nothing but old rags. What really terrified them was its club. It had wooden spikes poking out of it and was at least as big as the two girls were put together.

Hermione screamed and dashed into a cubicle, while Harley did the same heading for beneath the sink. Roaring the troll lifted its club and slammed it into the stalls, splintering the wood and sending it anywhere.

"Hermione!" Harley screamed.

"Harley, Hermione!" Harley turned and saw not only Ron, but Draco Malfoy as well, standing behind the troll in the entrance of the bathroom.

"Ron!" Harley screamed, "Do something!" Ron looked around him for anything that he could do to help. Malfoy on the other hand, was already in action, throwing large pieces of debris at the troll. Ron soon followed his example, and began throwing bits of wood at the monster. While it wasn't enough to hurt it, it sure got its attention and gave Hermione time to crawl from beneath the remains of the cubicles and over to where Harley was crouched down covering her head.

Harley gasped as she saw the troll raise its club to smash into where Malfoy was standing throwing pieces of wood. Not knowing where the urge came from, she rushed from her hiding spot, and leaped onto the back of the troll successfully distracting it long enough for Draco to jump out the spiked club's way.

The troll whipped its head back and forth, attempting to dislodge the girl clinging to it before it finally reached up and grasped Harley by the ankle and yanked her off, holding the small girl in front of it.

"Do something!" She screached at the boys once again who were still throwing stones at the beast.

"What?" Ron shouted back distraught. Dodging its swinging club Harley shouted back, "Anything!"

Ron's face lit up with an idea and he pulled out his wand.

"Hurry up!" Harley shouted.

Hermione seemed to know what Ron was planning as she shouted advice to him. "Swish-and-flick!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted just before the troll's club was about to smash into Harley. She cringed, waiting for the impact, but it never came. Looking up she saw the club floating above the troll's head. Clunk!

It made a hollow sound as dropped onto the monsters head, and Harley was released from its grasp, falling to the floor. Standing up, she raced over to where Ron and Draco were standing as the troll started to sway. It fell down face first with a thud, and was still. "Is it dead?" Draco asked dumbfounded.

"No" Hermione replied walking on shaking legs to where the rest of the group was. "Just knocked out."

"Oh my!" All four students turned to face the McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell as they entered the ravaged bathroom. McGonagall's face was ashen as she addressed the students, "What on earth happened?"

Harley and Ron began talking very fast at the same time while Draco simply shifted his feet a little remaining silent. "It was my fault Professors." The two friends turned gaping faces back to Hermione who had stepped forward.

"Harley came here first looking for me after I didn't show up at the feast. She wasn't feeling well, so we both had stayed in here for a while when the troll came." She nodded at Ron and Malfoy, who was trying to make himself as small as possible. "Ron and Malfoy came in just a bit later, when they remembered that Harley and I didn't know about the troll. If they hadn't come and fought off the troll with Harley, I'd probably be dead."

McGonagall turned to look at the rest of the students. "Is this true?" The other three students all warily nodded their heads. "Be that as it may, it was extremely foolish to be wandering the castle Miss Granger. But I suppose you had no idea that this would happen. As for the rest of you, it's not very often that first years take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale!" She paused and looked between all of the students before speaking again. "Therefore, I will give five points to each of you." She paused for another moment looking down on the troll. "For _sheer dumb_ luck!"

While McGonagall spoke, Harley glanced at the other professors, pausing when she reached Snape, who was currently giving Draco a questioning eyebrow. Her eyes widened a fraction when she spotted a tear at the bottom of his robes that had a dark liquid dripping from it. _Is that blood?_

Looking up, Harley's curious gaze was met by Snape's cold one for a moment before he and McGonagall both left, leaving the stuttering Quirrell to usher out the shaken students. "C-c-come now. H-hurry, it m-might w-wake up."

Before the group split to head their separate ways, Draco turned to the three Gryffindors with a serious expression and threatening tone in his voice. "Not a word of this to anyone." With that said he turned around and sped off toward his own common room.

"I think he's just embarrassed." Hermione nodded her agreement.

Glancing at each other, Harley asked the question that had been plaguing her mind since she saw both boys enter the bathroom. "Ron, how did he end up coming with you to the bathroom anyway?" It wasn't as if they were friends, in fact, they acted like they hated each other and Draco _was_ a Slytherin.

Ron's ears burned red and he mumbled, "It just sort of happened". With that said, he sped off to the common room with the girls following and Hermione giggling behind him.

Once entering, they found a quiet spot to sit, and ate the remainder of the feast together in silence.

That began one of the greatest friendships Harley ever had. It seemed that there were just some things that you couldn't walk away from without becoming friends. Incidentally, taking down a mountain troll was one of them. _Hm, I wonder…_

-HP-

"Come on Ley you've got to eat something". Currently the group was sitting at the breakfast before Harleys first real Quidditch match. "I told you Ron, I'm not that hungry".

"Ron's right you now, you have to eat something. You need your strength." Hermione added.

Harley grimaced as she bit into a piece of toast, knowing that it would do nothing for her nauseous stomach. "There, I ate a piece of toast, happy?"

Ron snorted. "Ley that was a crumb from a piece of toast. Not a piece of toast."

Harley leveled a dry look at the red head. "A piece of toast to you is an entire loaf of bread Ron. We do not share the same proportional views."

"Good luck today Potter." The trio looked back to see none other than Professor Snape standing behind them sneering down at Ron specifically. "Yes, well now that you've been dragged into defeating a troll a small game of Quidditch should be easy for you." At this his gaze flickered to Ron again for a moment before continuing. "Even if it is against Slytherin."

With, the potions master strode away, his black robes billowing behind him. As he left Harley noticed limp in one of his legs. "I wonder…" she thought out loud.

"Wonder what?" She quickly turned back to her other two friends and motioned for them to come closer.

"Well I saw some blood on Snape's robes the night that we fought the troll, and I saw him limping just now." Ron looked puzzled. "Well, he sure wasn't limping when Professor Quirrell came yelling through the feast about the troll."

"Oh, I see what you're getting at!" Harley and Ron turned to look at Hermione who was bouncing in excitement over the discovery. "He must've gone to the third floor corridor where that dog was."

"Why would he do that?" Ron thought out loud.

Hermione sighed, exasperated. "Honestly Ronald, don't you realize? That dog was guarding something remember? That troll last night must've been a diversion! I mean, how else does a mountain troll get into a school without anyone knowing?" Ron's face took on a look of comprehension.

"Yeah, you're right Hermione! And I bet Snape was the one to do it. He went to go grab whatever that monster is guarding but ended up getting bit instead!"

"But he doesn't seem like the type do to that," Harley voiced thoughtfully.

"Are you kidding me?" Ron gave her a look that clearly asked if she was delusional. "He's totally the type to do it!"

"Ron, you're just saying that 'cause you think he hates you," Harley pointed out.

"It's not just a thought if it's true…" Ron mumbled. "Besides, what else could he have been doing there?"

"I don't know, maybe checking to make sure no one _else_ was trying to get in?" Harley noted dryly.

-HP-

She was sure she was going to be sick just staring at the gate. It wasn't the gat that made her sick of course, after all it was just a gate. No, it was the fact that the gate led to either her first triumph as a Quidditch player or a comfy hospital bed.

"Nervous Potter?" She looked beside her to see Oliver Wood smiling down at her.

"Just a little."

He nodded. "I was the same way before my first Quidditch game."

"Really? How'd it go?" Harley hoped a good tale of Wood's first game would help calm her nerves. "I actually don't remember much," Wood said scrunching up his face a bit in thought. "Took a bludger to the head five minutes in. I woke up the hospital wing a week later."

She stared at the Quidditch captain horrified. That story did absolutely nothing to help her nerves! In fact, she was probably worse off than before. Suddenly the gate opened and Harley could hear the roaring crowd chanting for the game to begin. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team mounted their brooms and took off into the bright sun, spotting the Slytherins already up in the air.

Soon both teams were circling Madam Hooch in the middle of the field where she was holding the quaffle. "Now I want a nice clean game. From all of you." As she said this however, she looked pointedly in the direction of the Slytherin team captain, Marcus Flint. Harley swallowed the lump in her throat and prayed for the exact same thing.

Madam hooch blew her whistle, threw the quaffle up, and released the snitch seemingly all at the same time. Harley's first game of Quidditch had begun.

Harley rose far above the other players, and hovered in the air searching for any sign of the golden snitch. This was their game plan. To have her out of the way of any incoming bludgers, and in have a prime seat of the stadium to search for the snitch.

"And there goes Angeline Johnson with the quaffle heading towards the Slytherin goal post, a pretty girl really, did you know she actually denied my invite to Hogsmade-"

"Lee!"

"Sorry McGonagall." Harley laughed as she heard the twin's friend, Lee Jordon, commentate. How he got the job in the first place with his track record, she'll never know. "And Johnson passes to Bell, who passes back to Johnson; she takes the shot- And Gryffindor scores the first points of the game!"

Harley cheered with the rest of the Gryffindors at the goal. Suddenly, she saw a flicker of gold near the Slytherin goals. _The snitch! _Harley shot off like a rocket after it, leaving the Slytherin seeker who had been tailing her in the dust.

"And Potter has spotted the snitch- Ouch! And the Slytherin Captain Marcus flint rams into Potter, knocking her of her course! What a dirty bast-"

"Lee!"

Harley rubbed her shoulder where the large Slytherin Captain had rammed into her, and glanced around in hopes for spotting the snitch where it had last been. It was gone.

"And Gryffindor gets a penalty shot after that bit of under handed-"

"Lee" McGonagall warned.

"Right. After a dirty move by the slimy-"

"LEE!"

"Alright, alright. Katy Bell takes the shot and scores! Another point for Gryffindor!"

Harley rose once again to begin her search for the snitch, while keeping an eye on the Slytherin seeker who was still following her closely. He was a tall, gangly fourth year, with blonde hair and a pointed nose. Obviously their seeker was not the best of flyers, and so had to watch for when Harley would spot the snitch, then go after it himself.

_We'll try this on for size, _Harley thought wickedly. She suddenly dropped into a steep dive, hoping the Slytherin seeker had taken the bait.

"And Potter spots the snitch somewhere again and dives after it, the Slytherin seeker not far behind." Apparently he had. "and they're getting closer to the ground, closer…Oh and Potter pulls up out of it at the last second! The Slytherin seeker smashes into the ground! Potter was faking the entire run!"

Harley smirked to herself as she rose back up to begin her search again. As the game continued, the playing got dirtier and dirtier.

Harley looked to the Gryffindor goal posts as she heard the crowd boo, and her eyes widened. Wood was lying on the ground, apparently knocked out.

Glaring towards the Slytherin side, she froze. By the left most goal post was the snitch. Harley rocketed after it_, _angling her broom to gain speed. All of a sudden she lurched forward as her broom halted by itself. Harley didn't have much time to wonder was happening, because soon enough, her broom was jerking in all directions rising higher and higher away from the other players.

Hermione gasped as she saw Harley clinging for her life on her broom which trying it's best to knock her off. "What's wrong with 'Arley's broomstick?" Hagrid was standing behind both Ron and Hermione looking up at Harley through his binoculars. Hermione grabbed Ron's pair after a shout of 'Hey!' and began scanning the stands.

"Snape's jinxing her broom!"

Ron looked at her bewildered. "Well what do we do?" Hermione shoved Ron's binoculars back into his hands and ran off shouting from over her shoulder, "Leave it to me!"

Harley's broom was rising higher and higher and by this time everyone but the Slytherin chasers were watching her with baited breath. "Hang on Harley!" Fred, or George, shouted trying to grab her onto their broom. What did they think she was doing, going for a joy ride! However, every time either twin got close, her broom would jerk higher and higher. Eventually they figured they could do nothing but circle beneath her, waiting to catch her if she fell. Harley sincerely hoped that would not happen.

After one particularly violent swing, Harley was flung over the side of the broom, now hanging from it by her hands. Harley shut her eyes waiting for the last jerk that would free her hands from the broom but it never came.

Blinking her green eyes open, she saw her broom hanging still in the air, no longer moving. Hauling herself up Harley looked towards the Slytherin goalposts once again, praying that the snitch was still there. It was. Harley shouted for the twins to get back to the game, and dove to where the snitch had just shot towards the ground.

Speeding downward she was getting closer and closer to the ground. Finally, and at the absolute last moment, she pulled out of the steep dive, still behind the snitch. She was too engrossed in catching the snitch to hear the crowd gasp in anticipation. She reached out her right hand trying to grasp the snitch. She was so close!

She shifted her weight and stood on her broom increasing her reach. A gust of wind came and Harley lost her balance, tumbling forward off of her broom and on to the soft grass.

Standing up, Harley lurched forward clutching her stomach.

"It looks like she gonna be sick!" Hagrid cried. Suddenly the golden snitch popped out of her mouth and into her hands. Harley stared at the beautiful golden design on the ball awestruck.

"Harley Potter has caught the golden snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

-HP-

"Why in the world would Snape jinx my broom?" The party in the Gryffindor locker room had lasted a good twenty minutes, so when Ron and Hermione had come to fetch Harley there were not many people left wandering about.

"Uh I don't know. Maybe because he's git?"

Harley sighed, "Ron, Snape isn't that bad. He's only awful to you…and Neville… and most of the entire Gryffindor house." Now that she thought about it, she was the only one that the potions master wasn't sharp with. He wasn't exactly nice either; at the most, he would simply ignore her, occasionally asking her a pop question. She still just couldn't imagine any reason for Snape wanting to jinx her broom.

"But Harley I saw it with own eyes! In order to jinx something you have to maintain eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking!" Hermione stated.

"Who was Pr'fessor Snape jinxing?" The trio turned to find Hagrid standing behind them, his brown eyes smiling down at Harley.

"Snape was the one jinxing Harley's broom!" Hagrid looked at Hermione confused. "Codswallop. Professor Snape is a teacher; he wouldn't do something like that."

"See, Even Hagrid says so," Harley insisted, now a bit annoyed. She kind of liked the sharp tongued Professor.

"Well then why was he trying to get past that three headed dog on Halloween?" Ron accused.

Hagrid stopped and looked at them sharply. "Who told you 'bout Fluffy?"

Harley gaped at the giant. "That thing has a name! And beyond that, it's name is Fluffy?"

"Course he has a name", Hagrid told them. "He's mine. I bought him off an Irish wizard in a pub. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the…"

"Yes?" Hermione pressed on eagerly.

"Shouldn't have told you that", He grumbled to himself. "Now no more questions. Snape wouldn't be tryin to get past Fluffy either." But the trio was not ready to give up just yet.

"What's Fluffy guarding Hagrid?" Harley, this time, begged. "I said no more questions! Whatever Fluffy is guarding, is strictly between Pr'fessor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel!"

Hagrid froze as Harley, Hermione, and Ron glanced at each other eagerly at the new development. "Shouldn't have told you tha'".

-HP-

Months flew by yet again and with teachers assigning more and more homework, the group of friends hardly had any time to look for Nicholas Flamel, and the time they did spend searching for the mysterious faceless name, they found absolutely nothing. It was now Christmas and Hermione and Ron were scheduled to leave for home.

Walking through the great hall lugging a suitcase, Hermione spotted both Harley and Ron at the Gryffindor table facing each other playing a game of chess.

Ron turned to face Hermione after demolishing Harley yet again in wizard's chess. "I see you've packed".

"I see you haven't," Hermione replied letting the unsaid question hang in the air.

"Change of plans. My parents are going to Romania to visit my brother Charlie. He's studying dragons there." Hermione nodded and smiled. "Good you can help Harley search for Nicholas Flamel."

Both Ron and Harley groaned. "We've searched everywhere!"

Hermione leaned forward. "Not in the restricted you haven't. Merry Christmas." With that, she flipped around and headed to the train to go home.

Ron glanced at Harley. "Ley, I think we've been a bad influence on that one." Harley nodded sagely and they both turned back to their game. "How the heck are we supposed to get into the restricted section?"

Harley shrugged. "I don't really know but we better think of a way if we ever want to find out who Nicholas Flamel is. That and Hermione will probably kill us if we don't at least try."

She looked back down at the chess board and groaned as Ron's bishop took out her knight. "Why am I playing this game with you again?"

Ron grinned. "Because you have never played chess and you wanted to learn from the master."

"Are you sure you don't want to let me win just one game Ron?" He shook his head, smirking. "Cause you know, I've got the twins on my side and the entire Christmas vacation to 'hang out' with them." Harley shot Ron, who was now rapidly paling, a wicked grin. "They can be really fun sometimes."

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**A/N**: I think I'm on a roll with updating! And my story is finally getting pretty long. Granted it won't be epically long, but still. Oh and I hope you guys caught on to the whole _Hm, I _wonder thought that Harley had regarding the incedent with the troll. If not go back to the thing that said 'there are just some things that you can't walk away from without being friends'. Then remember ALL the people who were involved with the incedent. ALL of them. I fyou still don't get it then i'm truly sorry but you are a certified idiot.

Review please! It delivers happiness and joy and goodness and cheerfulness and I'm pretty sure you get the picture.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey Everbody! I know you're shocked, and I'm actually alive. I really actually don't have an excuse for the tardiness except that I was facing a writers block with my style, started a second story, and am back in high school, sooo...yeah I actually do have an excuse. But it's good to be back, and I ope you guys enjoy this new chapter!

**Disclaimer**: I really, and honestly do not own anything related to HArry Potter other than a few ratty old books. I do however, ahave a rather amazing PotterMore account!

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**The Bloody Trail**

With the school term getting closer and closer to exams the teachers were piling up homework and Harley, Ron, and Hermione had no time search for any new information. Harley was almost drowning between the increased Quidditch practices and homework. And if it wasn't for Hermione helping her with History of Magic, she was sure that not only would she, but Ron as well though he'd be dead before he'd admit it, would fail the exam. Ron would probably fail a good amount of others as well had not Hermione been helping him extra.

The group was sitting in the library, yet again, when they happened to spot Hagrid enter. The giant, apparently having not noticed them, went straight to the back of one particular shelf and began to dig through books like a madman, totally disregarding the glare the fierce librarian was sending his way. The group of friends looked at each other curiously, wondering if any of them knew what their huge friend was doing.

Seeing as none of them knew, Harley took it upon herself to ask the man himself. She walked up behind him and not receiving a response, cleared her throat. "Uh, hello Hagrid." The giant started so bad, that he almost knocked down an entire bookshelf, causing Madam to glare at them fiercely from behind her glasses. Again. "Geez 'Arley don't sneak up on me like tha'" Hagrid gasped.

"Sorry Hagrid. I was just wondering what you were doing in here."

Hagrid shuffled his feat a bit and moved a book, something about dragons Harley saw, behind his back. "Uh nothin' really. You three aren't here still lookin' fer Nicholas Flamel are you?"

Harley had to admit that he changed topics rather nicely. "Nah, we figured out who he was ages ago. We also know about the Sorcerer's Sto-"

"Shhhh!" Hagrid interrupted her quickly, looking around to make sure no one had heard. Madam Pince was still glaring at them, just discretely from behind a book now. "I told you guys that it was none of yer business." He lectured sharply. "Now I don't want to hear you three meddling in thing you shouldn't be meddlin' in alrigh'?"

Harley hung her head as if in defeat. "Alright Hagrid". She had absolutely no intention of letting this go.

"Good then. I best be off now." Hagrid lumbered out of the library with a quick 'hello' to Ron and Hermione. As Harley walked back to the table, Ron and Harley shot her questioning glances. I don't know what's going on with Hagrid." She said honestly. "He was checking out a book about dragons or something."

"Dragon's?" Ron said bewildered. "Why would he be doing that?"

"Well, he told me while we were picking my stuff up in Diagon Alley that he had always wanted a dragon."

Ron shook his head. "What's with that guy and dangerous, bloodthirsty monsters?"

"But you know," this time Hermione spoke. "Maybe we should tell him about the stone. And both Quirrell and Snape. I mean maybe he can help us."

"Yeah we could go visit him tonight, I have Quidditch practice tomorrow." Harley confirmed, nodding her head. The group gathered their stuff, and headed out of the library and towards their next class.

-HP-

Hagrid, open up! It's us!" Harley banged on the door once more for good measure when the group had arrived at the giant's hut later that night they had been surprised to see that the blinds were drawn closed

. "Back Fang…BACK!" All three teens took a step backwards as Hagrid, wearing an apron, opened the door for them with one hand and holding back the large black bloodhound, Fang, with his other.

"'Er, 'ello you three. Come on in. Back Fang!" The three friends obliged. The giants hut was a little too warm and Harley could see a cauldron over a large open flame over in the corner even though it was a fairly warm day. "Hagrid, why is it so hot in here?"

The giant shuffled his feet a bit. "Uh, I'm cooking something". _Well that explains the apron, _Harley thought dryly. "Can we open a window then?"

"Sorry, I can't. Now what are you three doin' here at this time of night?" Harley glanced at Ron and Hermione before beginning, there was after all no point in beating around the bush. "It's about the Sorcerer's Stone."

"You're still on about tha' are you?"Hagrid muttered, glancing at all three with a suspicious gaze. "I told you to leave tha' alone. It's none of yer business." But Hagrid", Hermione pleaded, "We think someone's going to try and steal it!"

"Codswallop, there ain't no safer place than Hogwarts to keep somethin'. Safer than even Gringotts." He said firmly.

This time it was Ron. "We think Snape-

"Or Quirrell" Harley quickly interrupted.

"might be trying to steal it! That's why he-"

"They" She snapped annoyed.

"were trying to get past Fluffy on Halloween."

Hagrid's face grew serious and when he spoke his voice was low and stern. "Now you listen here. Snape and Quirrell are Professors at Hogwarts, and beyond that they're helping protect the stone. They wouldn't go and steal it." Harley g;lanced at her friends and knew that Ron and Hermione were thinking the same thing she was. If Quirrell or Snape were protecting the stone, it would be easy to find out what other enchantments were protecting it. It was the perfect cover.

"Who else is protecting the stone Hagrid? I mean, Dumbledore must have trusted a select few others beside you." Hermione said in a flattering voice. Ron and Harley beamed at her. Hagrid's beard lifted a little, Harley could tell he was smiling, and his chest stuck out a bit more than before.

"Well I s'pose it coun't hurt ter tell you tha'…let's see there was Fluffy from me…then some o' the teachers did a few enchantment, an' then Dumbledore himself did something."

Suddenly the occupants in the room heard a small crackle come from the cauldron over the fire. Hagrid jumped up, seeming to forget entirely about his current conversation and company. He grabbed a pair of mittens and lifted something out of the fire, something that was most certainly not food.

"Hagrid- what's _that?" _In the Hagrid's hands, was a huge, black egg.

Setting it down in the center of the table, Ron gasped. "Hagrid, I know what that is!" He turned his wide eyes towards the giant. "But how'd you get one? It must have cost you a fortune!"

"Well I won it. "Hagrid said proudly. "Off a bloke in the pub. He seemed to be glad to get ter get rid of it ter be honest."

"Well what is it?" Hermione questioned.

Ron eyed the egg in unsuppressed wonder. "A dragon egg."

"Hagrid what on earth are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Harley asked bewildered. "If you didn't notice you live in a very _wooden _house. And I'm sure that someone is going to notice it."

But Hagrid was paying absolutely no attention at all. His gaze was fixed on the egg, he himself humming merrily and stroking the egg lovingly.

"Why can't we have a normal school year, like students are normally supposed to?" Ron groaned. Harley sighed to herself. Not only did they have to watch to make sure that the stone stayed safe, but also worry about what would happen if someone discovered that Hagrid was harboring an illegal dragon egg. That and the teachers had begun piling on more and more homework, literately drowning the students in it.

Seeing that they were going to get no more conversation or information out the giant, the trio bid goodbye and left the hut with a promise to come see when the dragon hatched.

They didn't have to wait long.

One morning at breakfast just a few days later, Hedwig flew in to deliver Harley a note that contained two words: _its hatching._ Ron of course, immediatly wanted to skip classes that morning, but neither Harley nor Hermione would have any of it. They had enough to worry about already.

Ron complained loudly, "Come on guys! Something like this doesn't happen every day. How many people do you think get to watch a-"

"Shhh Ron! Shut up." Harley hissed. A few feet away, she could spot Pansy Parkinson slow down to try and drop in on their conversation. "Not here," she whispered just loud enough for her friends to hear, but not quite enough for the pug-a-like too. The group moved on, leaving the curious Slytherin behind.

As the day dragged on, Ron became more and more anxious to the point that in potions Harley sat with Hermione for fear that he would screw up the simple sleeping draught they were supposed to make. Sure enough, "Weasley, if you cannot sit still and concentrate in my class enough to brew a simple potion that most toddlers would be able to accomplish with their eyes shut then I will gladly see you in detention tonight! Five points from Gryffindor." Snape snapped at the jittery red head who had managed to melt the cauldron almost as bad as Neville had.

Finally the group had a free period, for which they decided to visit Hagrid. Approaching the hut, they were not surprised to see the curtains still drawn closed. Harley stepped forward and banged on the door. Almost immediately, the giant cracked the door open and ushered them in.

"Yer just in time," said Hagrid gleefully. Sure enough, in the middle of the table the black dragon egg was rocking and shaking violently back and forth, with cracks appearing in places on the shell.

"Hagrid, do know what type of dragon it's going to be?" Ron asked, turning to face the giddy giant.

"Wha' I've got there is a Norwegian Ridgeback. Those are rare, they are."

Suddenly the egg shell shattered, sending bits and pieces of the black layering in all direction. Now sitting on the table now was a small spiny dragon, with large leathery wings. "Isn't he beau'iful? Hagrid said with wonder in his voice. Harley thought that Hagrid's definition of beautiful and her own, were very much different.

"'Ello there Norbert."

Ron turned a gaping mouth to Hagrid. "_Norbert?"_ he asked disbelievingly.

"Well I got ter name him somethin' don' I?" He turned back to Norbert and began to stroke it, tickling it a bit under its chin. "Who'se beau'iful? You ar-"

The baby dragon promptly let loose a stream of fire into Hagrid's beard, catching it on fire. Hagrid stood up and quickly patted the flames out of his beard, leaving it singed. He chuckled a bit nervously. "Well, he's gonna need a bit of trainin' up o' course."

"Hagrid," Hermione narrowed her eyes in the dragon's direction, "maybe you should go to Dumbledore about this? I mean you can't expect to raise a dragon on the school grounds forever, can you?" Hagrid shook his head.

"Nah, I can't. Besides, what if Dumbledore sends him off to a preserve? What if the other dragons are mean to 'im? He's only a baby after all." Ron gagged, but no one paid it any mind.

"But Hagrid, I'm sure Norbert would be happier on a preserve. With his own kind you know.' Harley pushed. But Hagrid was set in his decision and was apparently not going to be swayed anytime soon.

-HP-

The next week was chaos. Norbert tripled in size and was constantly setting things on fire. Hagrid still refused to budge on his decision making the three friends a bit more than just frustrated. On top of that, Pansy and now Draco and his goon squad, had begun to follow them, eavesdropping on their conversations whenever they could hoping to catch something of what they were up to. School became more difficult with exams looming over the horizon and each teacher seemed to think their class was the most important. Hermione made planners for each of them, color coded no less, which had annoyed Ron to the thing out his window the first chance he got.

Finally that Saturday, Hermione was able to convince Hagrid to go to Dumbledore when Norbert, now bigger than Fang, set half of his hut on fire, along with his garden. They had all stayed at the cabin in the company of Fang until the giant came back.

Hagrid came back an hour later from Dumbledore's office weeping. "He's gonna s-send Norbert off tonight. To yer b-b-brother's preserve, Ron." Hagrid sobbed into his hands and Hermione offered his a tissue which he took, blowing his nose rather loudly into it.

"Was Dumbledore angry then?" Harley asked cautiously.

Hagrid shook his head fiercely. "No he was very understandin'. Great man, Dumbledore. Great man…"

With that the duo left the weeping giant, promising to return later that night to send the Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert off to his new home.

-HP-

"Hagrid's gone mental he has." Hermione swatted Ron on the arm earning an 'ouch' from him.

"Ronald! Hagrid is really upset about this! He's always wanted a dragon…"

The redhead snorted. "That doesn't mean he hasn't still gone mental. Did he think he could raise it up and when it was too big for his house, he could set it off in the Forbidden Forest to keep as a pet?" Ron gestured to the dark, looming forest in the distance, further emphasizing his point.

"Probably," Harley added.

"And _Norbert! _Really, you're gonna name a fierce some dragon _Norbert!" _Ron practically wailed at the injustice.

"Ronald!" Hermione swatted him once again on the arm. "Only you would care if it was named that."

"Would you stop that! And come on, even Harley thought it was-"

Harley waved her hands out in front of her, effectively cutting Ron off. "Whoa, hold on there. There is no way you are bringing me into this Ron. Besides, we're already here."

Sure enough the group turned to see that they had arrived at Hagrid's hut, with the curtains finally drawn back once more. Before they could even knock on the door, Hagrid opened it, carrying a huge rattling crate in his hands almost the size of Fang. From the giants face it appeared that he'd been crying for quite some time. His eyes were red and puffy with tears streaks running down the visible part of his face and into his noticeably shorter and singed beard.

"Oh, 'ello you three…" He sniffled a bit, setting the crate down and wiping a thick wooly sleeve across his eyes. "I got Norbert all packed up an' ready for 'is trip. Dumbledore's expecting us righ' about now so we best be off." He picked up the crate carefully, almost as if it was made with glass, and began trudging back up to the school. With a quick glance between them, the three friends followed closely behind the weeping giant.

Honestly, Harley was more than relieved to be done with the whole mess once and for all. Did she feel bit sorry for Hagrid? Maybe. Was she going to miss Norbert? Definitely not.

She was brought out of her musing as a flame burst through the air holes, startling Hagrid into almost dropping the crate.

"Bloody He-" Ron swore as he had to avoid the flames that continued to flare up, shooting in all different directions. The crate continued to rattle dangerously as Hagrid tried vainly to placate the upset baby dragon.

"Easy, Norbert. Easy! Blimey, I must've forgotten his bear…"

All three kids gaped openly at the giant. "Hagrid, you gave a raging dragon a _teddy bear_?" Hermione asked incredulous.

"Well he's got to have somethin' with him when he leaves. I don' wanna leave him all alone…" Harley glanced from the giant's glum face then back down the hill to where his cabin sat in the dark.

Cringing, she opened her mouth to make a suggestion she was sure she was going to regret. "Hagrid, if you want I can go back and get his…bear for him." But from the way her giant friend's face lit up she could almost say it was worth it. Almost.

"Really 'Arley? I'm sure Norbert would appreciate it."

"Yeah," Ron mumbled, "If he wasn't so busy spitting fire at us."

Hermione yet again silenced the boy with a swift, and very painful, elbow to the ribs before turning to the raven haired girl with a small smile. "We'll meet you up at the tower okay?"

"Sure Mione, see you later." With that, Harley turned and sped back to the cabin.

After shoving Fang, and his great slobbering tongue, away from the door, she began to scan the area and spotted a ratty, burnt bear on one of the lumpy chairs that adorned Hagrid's small living space. Harley quickly snatched it up. Honestly she was surprised the thing had lasted this long with the baby dragon being as violent as he was. On her way out she though she caught a glimpse of a black bag filled with… stuffing? By the size of the bag, the bear Harley held was most definitely not the first.

A shiver passed through her slight frame as she stepped out from the warm cabin into the chill night air. The moon was casting a soft silver glow on the grounds, illuminating everything.

A shadow flitted across the grounds, coming from the direction of the castle and headed in the direction of the forbidden forest. Frowning, Harley squinted her eyes to try and make out the person, when they suddenly stopped and slowly turned to face the small girl.

Pain shot through her scar causing tears to spring into her eyes, but as quickly as it had come, it left as did the cloaked person. Shaking to rid herself of the left over phantom pain, Harley's mind latched on to the first thought, or rather person, that popped into her head. Quirrell. Her scar only hurt like that when she was in his class. But why would the teacher be out this late, and headed to the Forbidden forests of all places?

Harley bit her lip and glanced nervously at the place where the teacher had disappeared into the forest. Quirrell was up to something, she was sure of it, but what was it? She desperately wanted to follow him into that forest. But it was forbidden for a reason and Dumbledore made it clear that they weren't supposed to enter, not that it stopped Fred and George of course.

A sly smile slid onto her face as the last thought floated through her mind. _Fred and George…_ If they could do it, multiple times she was sure, then why couldn't she? She even had her dad's cloak although she would only need it if she spotted Quirrell.

A howl pierced the night from the woods and Harley shivered. She would be bringing Fang with her of course.

Harley, now with Fang, walked to the very edge of the looming forest. Holding the lamp she had 'borrowed' from Hagrid up, she spotted a narrow, winding dirt path that disappeared into the depths of the trees.

"Come on Fang," she muttered and they set off.

Harley kept to the path, though she had given up on her sense of direction not to long into the excursion. The trees cast thick black shadows everywhere, and were packed together too tight for her to make anything out. They reached high enough to block out any light the moon may have given her so she was left with her small lantern and Fang to guide her.

She estimated that she had been walking for fifteen minutes before she hit a fork in the path. "Great," she said sourly, "Now where do we go." She began to pace anxiously. There was no way to tell which path the DADA professor had taken, he could've gone anywhere heck he could'v-

Harley stopped pacing as she felt a thick liquid coat her foot from where she had stepped. Her face twisted in disgust, "Ugh, that's just- gross?" Her voice colored with more amazement than disgust as she finished her sentence and bent down to examine her foot.

Covering her entire shoe and area around it was a shiny liquid, almost like molten silver. Dipping her finger into it she immediately knew that it wasn't silver, it wasn't thick enough. It almost felt like- "Blood…" her face turned ashen as she whispered out the word. She knew what this was.

A week ago, she and Hermione were in the library looking at a book about magical creatures searching for information about dragons, for Hagrid of course, and had come across a chapter about unicorns instead. Being the avid reader and fantasy lover she was, Harley had spent the next hour reading everything that the book had about unicorns, including the properties of their silver blood.

The girl quickly scrubbed all of the silver blood on the ground and stepped away from the puddle. Glancing around she spotted a second puddle of blood just off of the side of the right path smaller than the one she was currently standing next to.

Switching her gaze between the two, she couldn't help but wonder who or what would have, or could have, injured a unicorn to where it would be bleeding this much.

Tugging, on Fang's collar a bit, she led him over to the next puddle of blood and glanced around. Sure enough, a third puddle could barely be seen glowing with an ethereal light ways away, even farther off the path.

Looking at the blood, Harley's mind swirled with indecision. Should she follow the trail and look for the wounded animal? She could always follow the blood back so getting lost wasn't a problem, but what could she possibly do for the animal? _Anything would be better than nothing…_

Narrowing her eyes in determination, Harley tugged on Fang's collar yet again, and set off to down the bloody trail.

Harley walked deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees becoming thicker and thicker until she couldn't even see the night sky anymore. The blood also became more frequent, spots splashed onto tree trucks or rocks, as if the animal had been thrashing around.

Finally the blood had almost altogether stopped appearing in large puddles. Instead only a few drops starting at her feet led her forward to a clearing where the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on lay dead.

The unicorn was sprawled out on its side in an unnatural position, long legs splayed out in front of it. Large gashes on its body were still seeping silver blood. Even though its pelt still shone with a soft white light, Harley knew the creature was definitely dead.

She felt tears well up in her eyes and stream down her cheeks. It was such a beautiful and horrible sight. She forced her legs to move forward and knelt down in front of the animal, gently stroking where its fur was free of blood.

"What could do this…"

Harley froze and felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as Fang let out a blood curdling howl and she whipped around just in time to see him race off into the dark forest.

"Fan- AAHH" She let out a pained yell as pain seared through her forehead, causing spots to appear in her vision. It felt as if her scar was literately burning with white hot coals, and splitting open.

She made to stand but stopped as _something _emerged from the shadows of the trees. It was shaped like a human, but Harley couldn't make out any distinguishing features as the figure was covered in a thick, flowing black cloak. What she was able to see made her blood run cold and any cry for help die in her throat. From the soft glow of the unicorn she could see silver tracks of blood covering the lower half of the person's wickedly smiling mouth. It was sickening.

Harley was frozen on the spot from sheer terror and pain as the man, it seemed the most plausible reasoning, stalked closer and closer to her like a hunting beast. She gave a small whimper and squeezed her eyes shut as the man almost reached her.

Again the silence of the night was shattered as a shout followed by what sounded like hoofs came from behind her. Snapping her eyes open, Harley saw a _centaur _of all things leap over her head and in front of her, immediately bucking the creature, Harley could hardly call him human, away.

The black clothed 'thing' let out an inhumanly wail and fled back into the dark recesses of the looming forest. Uncoiling herself from the ball she had instinctively curled in, Harley stood up and approached the centaur cautiously, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm her frozen arms and settle her nerves.

"W-w-what was that, that _thing_?" The question came out as little more than a hoarse whisper.

The centaur glanced down to the girl standing beside him with an appraising eye until he spotted the scar on his forehead, his mouth immediately curving downward into a frown.

"That was a being of darkness; something of the greatest evil to have killed something as pure as a unicorn." Harley despondently stared back at the fading glow of the unicorn, then back to the centaur who was looking at her with the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. _Like sapphires.._. "You should not be here," he said. "The forest is dangerous as of late, especially for you. I will take you out of this place. Can you ride? It will be much faster."

Harley numbly nodded and climbed onto the crouched centaur without a second thought. "Who are you?" She finally asked once they were racing through the trees.

"My name is Firenze. And that creature killed the unicorn for its blood," he added at seeing the unasked question hanging in the girl's green eyes.

"Why?"

"Do you know the properties of unicorn blood?"

Harley nodded her head. "It grants those who drink it life. Even if you are at the brink of death it can save you. 'But you would live a half life, a cursed life for killing something so beautiful and pure'" she quoted.

Harley felt a sickening pit begin to form in her stomach as she asked her next question. "Who would do such a thing though…"

Firenze turned to face Harley with a raised eyebrow. "Can you think of no one who at this very moment is searching for some way to regain life? Someone who is vile enough to commit such a sin?"

"Voldemort," she whispered.

"Yes," he nodded gravely, "but the blood of a unicorn can only sustain one for so long." He paused in his speech and looked ahead once more. The trees weren't half as thick as they were deeper in the forest, in fact it almost seemed open, which meant they were close to edge of the woods.

"Tell me," Firenze began, "do you know what lies in the castle at this very moment?" Harley gave the centaur an uncertain nod.

"Yeah but what does that…" Her face turned ashen as she connected what the centaur was hinting at. Firenze slowed down and stopped as the duo cleared the forest and entered into the clear night sky where Harley could see the soft light of the moon once again.

"This is where I leave you Harley Potter." He crouched down so the girl could safely hop onto the ground. "Be safe," he placed his large callused hand on her raven head for a moment in goodbye, before turning and trotting back into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

Harley stood staring blankly at nothing for what she felt was forever, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just learned. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she turned away and walked in the direction of the castle. "Oh man, Rona and Hermione are not going to," her eyes widened when she remembered what exactly she was supposed to be doing at the moment. "Oh crap Hermione is going to kill me!" With the threat of an angry nag hanging over her, Harley sped up her walk into a full out sprint to the school, glancing down at her watch at the same time. "Crap, its almost 11 o'clock!"

Within the next fifteen minutes, Harley had successfully made it to the Gryffindor common room, thanks to a nifty invisibility cloak she had conveniently forgotten she had, and was now standing in front of a very panicked Hermione and drowsy Ron.

"Harley!" Hermione shouted, leaping from the couch at the raven as soon as she removed her cloak. "Where in the world have you been? Ron and I were worried sick!"

"Yeah mate," Ron yawned, "she's been pacing for the past thirty minutes. When you didn't show up at the tower, Dumbledore went on ahead and sent Norbert off without you. We figured you'd be at the common room when we'd gotten back. Hermione over there freaked when we couldn't find you."

"Ronald of course I was scared! What if something dreadful had happened to Harley?" Hermione turned a worried gaze over Harley, spotting a smudge of silver liquid across the other girl's cheek. "Harley, what's on your face?"

Said girl furrowed her eyes in confusion before reaching up and wiping at the blood with her hand. "Oh, I didn't realize I had gotten any on me," she replied in a quizzical voice.

"Gotten what on you?"

Turning back towards her two friends she motioned for each of them to sit down around her on the couches, and began to recount the night's events.

Predictably Hermione had been absolutely livid that Harley would have put herself in danger, and more importantly ignored the rules, by wandering into the Forbidden Forest while Ron was begging her for details. Both had been quickly stilled when they heard the rest of the story and the group sat in a heavy silence until, surprisingly, Ron broke it.

"So you're telling me that You-Know-Who was out there drinking unicorn blood?" Ron squeaked out Voldemort's moniker.

"More specifically, it was Quirrell who was doing it for him," Harley corrected.

"And you're sure it was Quirrell and not Snape? Cause Snape would make a lot more sense you know," Ron shifted uncomfortably, "being a former follower and all."

"I'm absolutely positive Ron. My scar only hurts like that when I'm around Quirrell." Harley absently rubbed the still stinging lightning bolt. "In fact, I think it's a warning, for Voldemort." She ignored Ron's sharp intake of breath at the name. "It all makes sense now."

"And now he's after the Sorcerer's Stone. For immortality." Hermione stated idly. "And when if he does…"

"Then he's going to finish the job that he started," Harley finished the brunette's sentence.

Hermione turned wide eyes to her friends green ones. "But Harley he can't get to it!"

"Why not Hermione? He's probably figured out how to get past anything that the school's put up to protect the stone," Ron bit out sharply.

"Because," the girl's face shifted to a more hopeful look. "Who is the only person that You-Know-Who has ever feared?" Harley and Ron glanced at each other, then back to Hermione. "Dumbledore! And as long as Dumbledore is here Harley," she gave the girl a reassuring smile, "You're safe. As long he's here, you can't be touched." Hermione finished with a confident smirk and folded her arms across her chest, as if that alone settled the matter.

Both Hermione and Ron seemed to relax a bit at this knowledge, but for some reason Harley couldn't take part in their reassurance. She knew they were probably right and she should feel relieved. But for some reason the knowledge didn't quell her fear in the slightest. If anything, she even felt worse.

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**A/N: **Yeah so I hope you liked it. You all should really Review my story too, that was also part of the reason i didn't update in so long. It's kinda hard to be motivated for writing when you don't get any feedback or comments so if you want me to write faster, Review!

-Anonymous


	9. Chapter 9

Okay so I'm back! Kinda...mayabe...might take another month or two for the next chapter I'll be honest. I've still been having issues with my writing, I feel it's kind of...I dunno, choppy? Well that and I'm looking for a **beta reader**. A VERY patient beta reader who I can bounce ideas off of and that has great ideas. They can add in suggestions or change sentances to flow better. I really need someone who has a wide vocabulary and is good with flowing paragraphs. So if you're interested please contact me!

I've also been jumping around my stories a lot. Like I wrote my favorite scene in the third book in conjunction to my stories. I just get bored with the first book. It's very...plain and hard to make interesting, but thats just me.

Disclaimer: Do I own Harry Potter? No. Do I want to? Honestly, not really. Do I want the money gained from the franchise? Absolutely.

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Chapter Nine

Trials to an End

Harley gazed through bleary, heavy laden lids, at the sunlight streaming through one of the arching common room windows. Blinking a bit to rid the sleep out of her emerald eyes, she gave a wide yawn and picked her head from off of the table, removing a stray piece of parchment that had stuck to her face sometime in the night.

A loud snore drew her attention to the person occupying the chair next to hers. Ron's head was laying face-down into a rather large Potions textbook, a slight trail of drool pooling off to the side beneath his mouth. Gross.

To her other side sleeping was Hermione, her hands clenched tightly around her own book, even when sleeping. Harley rolled her eyes with a small smile playing on her lips at her friends' habits, before giving a long stretch, arching her back until it popped, sighing in pleasure.

Standing, she began to gather her many sheets of parchment paper and quills that were strewn about the desk, some even having floated to the ground. Once finished she approached Hermione, gently nudging her in the arm. "Hermione," she kept prodding, "Hermione wake up."

The bushy haired girl groaned before slowly cracking open an eye, peering up at her friend. "Harley," she yawned, "what time is it."

Harley just shrugged shrug. "Don't know. I just woke up too." She gestured around the table at the scattered books surrounding her other two friends. "But it looks like we stayed up all night studying for the final exams."

"Really?" Hermione blinked in shock. Harley looked at her a bit puzzled. She shouldn't be that surprised, she had done it plenty of time before, with Harley even joining in a couple of times. "I can't believe Ron actually stayed." She snorted. Of course. Actually, though, once she thought about it, it was a bit of a surprise that the normally lax boy, in _very _mild terms, would ever voluntarily study for hours on end. Though, by the look of the Quidditch magazine hidden beneath the parchment of what should have been a two-foot Transfiguration essay, it didn't look like he had actually done much studying.

Harley leaned over and flicked the redhead on the ear. "Get up sleepyhead. Mornin' is a callin'." Ron responded to her less-than-welcome cheery wakeup call with a muffled grunt, before turning his head the opposite direction of Harley's amused gaze. "Fine, I guess we'll just head on to breakfast without you."

Predictably, and being the bottomless pit he was, Ron's head snapped up to attention, looking wide-eyed and panicked at the thought of skipping the most important and coveted meal of the day. You know, besides lunch, dinner, or even the snacks in between of course. His head shifted around the room for a bit, eyes blinking a bit stupidly before staring at Harley once more. Hermione covered a snicker as realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and Ron's stare turned into an indignant glare at the raven haired girl smiling brightly at him. "Really Ley? Did you have to do that?"

"Well," she chirped cheerfully, "It got you up didn't it?" Ron just scowled up at her, unrelenting. "Oh come on, it's not that early." She did it mostly for his reaction anyways.

"No one's down here yet and the sun isn't past the tree line. It's too early."

"Well then," she intoned happily, part of her doing it just to annoy the grumpy Weasley, "that just means we get to have first pick at breakfast. Now getup and let's get going." She grabbed the back of his robe and attempted to haul him out of the chair. "We have the whole day off today!"

"Which," Hermione interrupted, already finished cleaning up her books and such, "we should be spending on studying. The exams are tomorrow after all."

" 'Mione," Ron moaned, "what do you think we spent all of last night doing. Let's have some fun today."

Harley raised an accusing eyebrow at him. "Ron, I wasn't aware that you had done anything other than read Quidditch last night." His ears turned scarlet and he mumbled a few lame excuses under his breath. "But he's right Hermione," Ro gave a sigh of relief, "last minute cramping doesn't really do anything."

Hermione still looked unsure, but still gave a tentative nod of agreement and Harley beamed. If there was ever a situation like this one, it was usually up to her to decide what to do, being the most tempered out of the three, and the other two usually deferred to her decisions seeing the sense in them, though Hermione would much rather spend more time in the library and Ron much less.

Ron clapped his hands together, suddenly invigorated. "Great lets go get some food! I'm starving!"

"Ronald, you're _always_ starving." Hermione scrunched up her nose at the mess he had left on the table. "And you haven't even cleaned up yet."

"Eh," he waved her off, 'I'll get it later."

"And leave out you Potions homework for Fred and George to correct? What a brilliant idea Ron," Harley gushed out dramatically.

Ron paled, as he almost always did with the mention of his brothers, and quickly scrambled to stuff all of his work into his ratty school bag lying on the floor.

"Much better," Harley smiled. "Now let's go get breakfast." And the trio headed out of the common room, bags slung over their shoulders.

As it turned out, not many people ate breakfast at what they discovered to be six thirty in the morning. In fact only Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, Snape ( Ron had held the secret belief he never actually ate real food, and instead drank blood down in the dungeons as he was rarely seen at meal the lunch and breakfast mealtimes. Do his great dismay however, this theory was rejected with clear evidence of the snarky professor eating a piece of sausage) a few Ravenclaws, and even fewer Hufflepuffs were eating breakfast at this, according to Ron, 'bloody early' time in the morning.

"Told you it's too early…" Ron mumbled as they took their usual seats at the table, already beginning to shovel every piece of food in sight onto his plate or his mouth.

"Yes Ron you did. For the hundredth time. Now just eat." Grumbling, Ron set to shoving eggs in his mouth, blatantly ignoring the scathing looks Hermione shot his way.

Gulping down his first mouthful, or what could be considered several in normal proportions, he turned to Harley. "So, are you sure it's not Snape?"

Harley's eyes hardened and she lowered her fork. "Ron we've been over this. I'm positive that it's Quirrell, now will you just let it go? I would like to eat a normal breakfast for once without having to worry if some Dark Lord was suddenly going to pop up and murder me." Truly enough, she had been burying herself into her studies more than lately, attempting to distract herself from the thoughts of Quirrell and the safety of the Stone, despite Hermione's adamant belief that it was safe.

"Just saying…" but Harley breathed a sigh of relief when he let the subject drop.

"Well hello! How are our favorite firsties doing?" Fred and George shoved Ron to the side and took the seats directly facing Harley and Hermione. Ron glared at the intruder's, snatching his plate away and piling on the food once more.

Harley raised a suspicious brow, setting down her fork. "What do you guys want?"

They both feigned hurt, clutching their chests. "Harley, you mean to say-"

"that you don't believe us?"

"Nope."

They both grinned wickedly. "Well then, I guess you won't have deniability rights."

"What?" Hermione asked.

Fred (or George) slipped his wand out of his sleeve discretely, and Harley resisted the urge to duck out of sight or whatever the two pranksters had planned. It was usually something incredibly gross. Or flammable. Or just plain destructive. "Hermione, could you move to the side just a bit?" Fred had one eye closed and was hunching over his currently empty breakfast plate in what Harley expected was an attempt to look inconspicuous.

Hermione gave Harley a worried glance before she complied and leaned over to one side. Fred grinned widely. "Perfect." And without another warning a small, almost invisible spark flew out one end of the wand, flying across the room…directly into the face of a rather menacing, and not to mention _huge, _Slytherin boy.

Both Fred and George slapped high fives, discretely of course, and snickered as the black haired Slytherin kneeled over, clutching his stomach. Hermione however was not amused. "Fred Weasley!" She jabbed an accusing finger in the still snickering boy's direction. "You just jinxed another student! And," She gasped hands flying to her mouth, "you used me as an accomplice!"

Harley rolled her eyes, jabbing an elbow in Ron's ribs as he snorted his pumpkin juice from laughing, at the brunette's wide-eyed panicked look. "What if we get caught? I could even get detention!"

"Relax Hermione," one of the twins waved off the girl's panick, grabbing a cinnamon roll off of one of the silver platters. "It wasn't even Fred who shot the jinx."Hermione sighed in obvious relief. "It was George of course!" And promptly threw a piece of bacon across the table at one of the laughing twins.

"Yeah Hermione," Ron's muffled words came out between mouthfuls of food, "Fred and George hardly ever get caught."

"And besides, that Slytherin was Marcus Flint." Harley idly pointed out.

"Who," Hermione asked.

"Flint's the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team," Ron said slyly, a grin breaking loose on his face. Hermione turned in her seat and caught sight of the Slytherin, now kneeling on the floor, coughing up what appeared to be pink… feathers?

Hermione turned to glare at the twins with a new found ferocity. "So you cursed him over a Quidditch rivalry?"

"Not even close Hermione," Harley glanced back and snickered. The black haired boy was still on the ground, now not only coughing up pink feathers but also squawking a bit here and there. She had to admit, it was one of the twins more creative curses. They saved the best like these for the truly deserving as always. "Marcus Flint over there is known to pick on first years, or any years really. Just a few days ago we caught him putting Neville in a full body bind curse in remote part of the library. The fact that he happens to be the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team is just bonus"

Ron shook his head ruefully, glancing down the table at Neville, who had a small smile adorning his face at the sight of his tormentor's misfortune. "Poor bloke, that seems to be a favorite curse for him."

Hermione just huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "That still doesn't make it right…" But Harley could've sworn she saw her mouth turn up at the edges as a louder chirp resounded from behind them. She was one of Neville's close friends and most outspoken defenders after all.

"So what are you ickle first years doin' up and about-"

"so early in the morn'," one of them finished with a wide grin, eyes following the retreating form of Marcus Flint as he left the dining hall.

"How should I know," Ron mumbled, "ask the early bird over here." He jabbed his fork at Harley rolled her eyes in response.

"Nothing really," she shrugged, "just thought I'd get up early today."

Ron's fork clattered on the table as he turned to gape at his friend. "You just _wanted_ to wake up early. Bloody he-" he yelped as a foot from Fred/George made contact with his knee, "-eck Ley! I thought you at least had a reason!"

"Nah," Harley grinned and stood up, "I kinda just felt like it. Anyways, I was planning on heading down to the lake to practice my transfiguration, anyone want to join?"

Fred and George both looked horror stuck as they stared at the raven haired girl. "Forge?"

"Yes Gred?"

"We haven't been enough influence on her yet."

Forge nodded his head solemnly. "To true, we have yet to completely corrupt her."

The both jumped out of their seats, clambering _over_ the table to place firm hands on the now wary girl's shoulders. "And as it is our sworn duty to instruct the next generation of marauders-"

"we must immediately correct our most grievous folly."

Harley, having plenty of practice with evasive maneuvers courtesy of Dudley's favorite game, dove underneath the table and popped up on the other side, wand out and pointed at the twins. "Oh no you don't. I happen to like Transfigurations. And besides," she added when the twin's gave her an even more despairing look, "wouldn't it be great to have a transfigurations ace to help with your little pranks? I mean you two are good with charms and potions and all, but come on. Think of the possibilities with Transfigurations?"

Fred and George glanced at each other furtively before gaving her twin nods of approval. "Then we have taught you well young disciple. And," They both gave a momentary look behind them at the Slytherin table, where several of the students, members of the Quidditch team Harley noted, were whispering to each other before staring openly at the Gryffindor group with an icy glare and returning to their hushed conversation. "It seems as though our demise is being planned for us," Fred (or George) moaned pitiably.

"Pity, I had hoped to plan my own; something extravagant maybe with lots of explosives," George (or Fred) gave a despairing sigh.

"So we must be off." And with that they darted out of the great hall, multiple pairs of menacing eyes shooting daggers at them the whole way out.

"Well I think I'll go too then," Harley grabbed her bag and pushed herself up from the table. "You guys coming?" She asked her friends.

"Nah," Ron said. "I'm gonna stay here and finish breakfast." She grimaced as he gestured to his plate that was, shockingly, still half full. She didn't quite know whether to be amazed or hurl.

"Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head as well. "I think now would be a great time to go talk to professor Flitwick about my extra credit project. Sorry."

"That's okay guys, I'll meet up with you later." Waving a quick good-bye, she took off out of the great hall and out into the grounds.

Harley breathed in deeply, smiling at the fresh spring smell that filled her nose. A breeze played across her face, causing he already messy hair to become even more disheveled. Glancing around the grounds, Harley searched for a spot that was currently unoccupied, but was having little success. Students of all ages were strewn about the grounds, everyone clearly intent on enjoying their day off. Harley envied them a bit, laying there so casually, laughing and chatting with friends and _not_ having to worry about Dark Lords coming for revenge. She took off at a slow walk through the grounds, raising her hand to rub idly at her throbbing forehead, her headache still ever present since this morning.

The scar. Her eyes crossed as she scowled up at the offending mark. It was the real reason she had woken so early today, and frankly she was annoyed. While living with the Dursley's, where everything had to be as extremely unremarkable as possible, her scar had made her feel just that. Remarkable, though Petunia hated the mark with a passion. Her aunt had tried time and time again to cover it up with literately pounds of make-up, vainly attempting to make her as un-freakish as possible. It was the only thing she truly admired about herself, despite her startlingly green eyes because the lightning shaped mark was uniquely her. It came to somehow define her.

She snorted at the irony of that thought, looking back on it now. If only she had known. Now it simply represented everything she had lost. But the mark _was_ her defining feature. To everyone in the entire bloody wizarding world that is.

Harley gave a sharp cry of surprise, all thoughts thrown out the window, as her shoe caught on a stone on the ground, pitting her forward till she met the ground face first. "Stupid rock…" she mumbled picking herself up and wiping the bits of grass and dirt off the front of her robe.

Her eyes widened considerably when she noticed just how far she had walked away from the normal grounds. It was close to the shore of the lake, but just far enough on a hill that grass still surrounded the area. A tall tree, most likely maple, stood towering in the middle of the hill and off to one side of it a large boulder. It was a picturesque spot on the grounds. And even better, she thought with a smile, there wasn't one other student in sight.

Trotting up next to the tree trunk, she tossed her book bag down and sat, leaning up against the aged bark.

What had McGonagall hinted? She mentioned something about the bit of chess piece transfiguration that the class had done some time back being something useful to know. She had mentioned it in passing, and rather vaguely too, but nonetheless it helped been the teacher's favorite once in a while.

Picking up a small stone, Harley set about transfiguring it into several different sorts of chess pieces, starting with pawns and slowly becoming more elaborate kings and queens. If only she could be this good at actually playing wizards chess. Ron still thrashed her thoroughly every time he managed to convince her to play.

But doing nothing but transfiguring various small items into other various small items, Harley was bored. Very bored.

"What are you doing here?"

Harley swung her head up in surprise. Bad idea. With a dull thump, the back of her head made contact with the tree in a very unpleasant welcoming. "Ouch!" Clutching her head, she turned her head up to glare at the person responsible only to be struck dumb.

Malfoy. Draco Malfoy was currently standing not three feet from her, glaring heatedly down at her small form curled up at the base of the tree.

"Malfoy?"

"What are you doing here?" He repeated again, eyes narrowing even further.

"Uh." _Oh brilliant reply Harley. _"Homework?"

"Where's the Weasel and Buck-tooth Granger then."

Harley felt her own eyes narrow, a twinge of anger flaring up. "Not here Malfoy," she snapped. "Where's dumb and dumber?" Now that was a good come-back! She internally gave herself a little pat on the back.

"Not any of your business," he replied defensively. "What were you really doing here then, if your sidekicks aren't around?"

"I told you already. I was studying. Or practicing more like it." She gestured to the small figurine of a queen lying face down in the grass next to her.

Malfoy, all hostilities forgotten, gaped openly at her. "You actually got how to do that?"

"What? You didn't?" Harley was genuinely surprised. Malfoy seemed like he knew how to do everything, and flaunted the fact quite often too. But, she corrected watching his face turn an interesting shade of pink, obviously not.

"So what, it's just transfigurations anyway; nothing useful."

"Nothing useful!" Harley scoffed. "Its Transfigurations, of course its useful!"

"Really, how?" said Draco.

"…well don't expect me to rattle something off the top of my head," Harley huffed, "but it is useful; otherwise they wouldn't be teaching us."

"Oh yeah, what about History of Magic?"

"…touché."

An overwhelmingly awkward silence settled over the two kids, leaving them glancing at everything except each other. What else were you supposed to do.

"So….do you want to learn how to do it?" Harley final asked.

Instead of answering, Malfoy simply walked over and landed heavily on the ground next to her with a scowl, blushing madly and refusing to meet her eyes.

She spent the majority of the next half-hour attempting to teach Malfoy, who had absolutely no skill, the art of making a chess piece.

But as the impromptu tutoring session continued, Harley couldn't help but notice a drastic change in the Slytherin's behavior. He seem almost, dare she say it, civil. Not the usual arrogant, spoiled prat that she was accustomed to seeing. Not that he wasn't still a prat in his own unique way, but he just seemed different, like everything else was all an act put up around his housemates. _Why was he friends with them anyways?_

"Why do you want to know?" Malfoy paused mid-spell.

Harley blinked dumbly at him. Had she said that out loud? "Uh, just curious I guess?"

Draco shrugged setting down the crudely, but still identifiably, shaped bishop on the grass next to her queen. "Our family's know each other I guess. I've know Crabbe and Goyle for a while now."

"And Pansy?" She asked

"Not till this year. And I definitely wouldn't say that we're friends… or anything close to it for that matter," he mumbled out the last bit dejectedly. "Why are you friends with Weasel and Buc-"

"Stop with the names Malfoy," Harley interrupted, pointing her wand accusingly at him. He grumbled a bit but said nothing further, instead waiting expectantly for Harley's answer.

"Well, I don't really know exactly why I'm friends with them, I just am. It's really indefinable, friendship. You don't really know when it hits you or when it starts, just that you become friends and that's all you know. Does that make any sense?" Harley asked, brows furrowed.

"Not really," Draco admitted, "But then again, you can't expect much else from a Gryffindor." He shot her an infuriating smirk.

"And I guess you can't count on Slytherin's to be useful for much either, if your Transfigurations work is anything to go by." And that smirk was wiped clean off not a second later, immediately replaced with an angry scowl. The two glared heatedly at each other for a few more minutes until a few shouts were heard in the distance,

"Harley? Harley!" Hermione's distant call carried on the wind, startling Harley.

"Oh crap!" Harley glanced up at the sky, hoping to see how much time had passed. "I was supposed to meet up with them ages ago!"

She glanced at Draco about to talk but was abruptly cut off when he scoffed at her, standing up with his bag over his shoulder. "Whatever. I'll be sure to point those Gryffindorks your way." And with that, he left, striding down the hill and towards the castle. Not a moment later a head full of bushy brown hair came bolting up the hill before stopping in front of Harley, with a much lazier head full of red hair following behind.

"There you are Harley, we've been looking everywhere for you! We tried the dorms, and I checked the library-"

"I told you she wouldn't be in their Hermione, she's not you-"

And we even checked with Hagrid" The girl continued right on through Ron's interruption, as if she hadn't heard him at all.

"Yeah and what was the prat doing up here?" Ron threw his two cents in before the bushy haired girl could continue.

"Well I was helping him with Transfigurations," Harley said.

"You what!"

"Oh that's great Harley!" Hermione beamed at her, clearly proud that she decided to do something constructive with her time.

"Wait hold on, am I the only one who sees something wrong with this?" Ron asked incredulous.

"Oh come off it Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Harley was nice enough to help Malfoy if he needed it, despite past disputes."

"But he's a Slytherin!" Ron protested indignant.

"Yes and Harley helping him is a great way to improve inter-house relationships and rivalries.'

"Inter-house relationships my arse…" Ron mumbled. Well at least he realized that arguing with Hermione got you effectively nowhere, very fast.

"What were you working on anyway Harley?" Hermione asked.

"Oh well let me show you." She bent down to retrieve her queen only to find that it wasn't alone on the grass. "Huh, Draco left his here to." She picked them both up and offered them to Hermione's open and impatient hand. "The queen is mine."

"Well that much is obvious," Hermione replied immediately and Ron snickered, peaking over her shoulder at the figurines. "Wow Harley, this is a really neat bit of magic. It really is wonderful." Harley beamed and Ron still snickered.

"What's the other one supposed to be, a bishop? I never knew Malfoy was complete rubbish at Transfigurations."

"It's not like you did much better, Ronald," Hermione scolded and Ron's ears were instantly aflame with embarrassment. "But I will admit that this is not the best I've seen." And Ron resumed his snickering.

"Not the best you've seen? Hermione the thing looks like a monkey."

"Hey, it's a lot better than it was before," Harley protested.

And that apparently was the final straw before Ron broke down into complete laughter, bending over and clutching his sides as his body shook.

To Harley, it seemed that Ron just liked it when Draco failed.

* * *

**A/N**: So if anyone is thinking Hermione is really OOC when talking about Draco, think about it. Draco really hasn't done anything to make her mad besides taking Neville's remembrall. He didn't get a chance to snitch on them with Norbert or anything, so it kind of makes sense. Draco only really makes Ron mad. ANd that's just Ron.

Please review, it really makes it worth it.


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